The Liberal Assault on Merit

[thereisnospoon]

Those who despise excellence will work to suppress it. Those who seek an end to merit are themselves seeking it.

I think not having to work for a living is excellent, don't you? Of course I earned that privilege,

what's your excuse?

Soon, double dipping and even pensions will be days gone by..
These perks are no longer sustainable.
Those newly hired into civil service will have you to blame because their after work benefits will not be anything close to the gifts your unions coerced out of the taxpayers

 

[Nutz]

How does a recommendation system benefit the poor? Seems like the rich would have better access to quality referals. If anything, it is a disavantage to the poor.

There should be no effort to benefit the poor. If there is a lack of integrity in the referral system, then the issue is a disadvantage to everyone. Nonetheless, there should be a test and nothing more. There should not be a perversion of the scores to entitle anyone or give an unfair advantage. You pass, you are in, you fail you are out. It is the 21st century and time to set equal standards instead of perverting competition that cheapens an institution.

 

[thereisnospoon]

You don't get into West Point based just on test scores. Is that a bad system?

Most major universities require far more than just good grades and test scores.
I had a female friend who took all Honors courses and she was a member of the 1600 club...Year, she answered every question on the SAT correctly. She was rejected by Georgetown. She lacked the extra curricular activities to merit acceptance. She went to NYU.
Military Academies require community involvement, character of the highest order, a letter writing campaign to one's US House member and/or US Senator. Veteran status of a parent or grand parent helps as well.
So what?
Military Academies are elite schools. They take only elite students. And only those willing to make a 7 year commitment to the Armed Forces...

 

[rdean]

Republicans and merit. Hilarious. You never hear of people from Blue States going to Red States looking for skilled workers. There has to be a reason. It's so fucking obvious.

 

[NYcarbineer]

You don't get into West Point based just on test scores. Is that a bad system?

Most major universities require far more than just good grades and test scores.
I had a female friend who took all Honors courses and she was a member of the 1600 club...Year, she answered every question on the SAT correctly. She was rejected by Georgetown. She lacked the extra curricular activities to merit acceptance. She went to NYU.
Military Academies require community involvement, character of the highest order, a letter writing campaign to one's US House member and/or US Senator. Veteran status of a parent or grand parent helps as well.
So what?
Military Academies are elite schools. They take only elite students. And only those willing to make a 7 year commitment to the Armed Forces...

And? Doesn't that make the argument that entry into NYC's special schools could be based on something less narrow than the score on one test and still maintain integrity? Or, perhaps, even improve the selection process?

What's the MERIT to the OP's zealous, narrowminded defense of the current selection process?

 

[NYcarbineer]

Those who despise excellence will work to suppress it. Those who seek an end to merit are themselves seeking it.

I think not having to work for a living is excellent, don't you? Of course I earned that privilege,

what's your excuse?

Soon, double dipping and even pensions will be days gone by..
These perks are no longer sustainable.
Those newly hired into civil service will have you to blame because their after work benefits will not be anything close to the gifts your unions coerced out of the taxpayers

Okay, so the country is in decline and the consequences will be fewer and fewer Americans enjoying middle class prosperity.

What's your plan?

 

[NYcarbineer]

Looks like I ended Carbine's meaningless crusade against PC. Facts are to liberals as a can of Raid is to a nest of cockroaches.

Or a job to an asshole rwer...

And yet you see that TK fled without any meaningful response to any of the points I've made.

 

[TemplarKormac]

I'm not taking the position that kids who don't deserve to go to these schools should go to them.

The OP says it's the test that gets you in or not.

It does. Being a citizen of New York, you should know the SHSAT is the standard for 8 of the 9 specialized high schools in the State, it also determines whether a kid gets into one of those 8 schools or not. They call it the Specialized High School Admissions Test. In 2008, 6,106 students were offered admission based on the results of those tests.

Chancellor Announces Specialized High School Admissions Results - 2008-2009 - New York City Department of Education

So if a costly tutoring program can give a kid a material advantage that might make the difference between admission or not,

is that just part of the bad luck of being poor?

What does being poor have to do with anything? It is the wealth of the mind that counts.

 

[saveliberty]

Seems like there are many possible solutions to this without lowering standards.

I can think of three right away. How about you libs?

 

[saveliberty]

Some enterprising teachers could offer a similiar course at a lower price.

 

[saveliberty]

Scholarships.

 

[saveliberty]

Student loans.

 

[saveliberty]

...but no, let's jump to lowering standards and dumb down everyone's education.

 

[NYcarbineer]

It does. Being a citizen of New York, you should know the SHSAT is the standard for 8 of the 9 specialized high schools in the State, it also determines whether a kid gets into one of those 8 schools or not. They call it the Specialized High School Admissions Test. In 2008, 6,106 students were offered admission based on the results of those tests.

Chancellor Announces Specialized High School Admissions Results - 2008-2009 - New York City Department of Education

So if a costly tutoring program can give a kid a material advantage that might make the difference between admission or not,

is that just part of the bad luck of being poor?

What does being poor have to do with anything? It is the wealth of the mind that counts.

What does being poor have to do with costly tutoring programs?

Did you really have to ask that?

 

[Mac1958]

...but no, let's jump to lowering standards and dumb down everyone's education.

That's the very nature of the "bottom up" society to which the Left subscribes.

Rather than motivating and inspiring those on the bottom rungs to rise up via standards and expectations, you cater to them first by making excuses for them and expecting less, ultimately dropping standards across the board.

.

 

[PoliticalChic]

So if a costly tutoring program can give a kid a material advantage that might make the difference between admission or not,

is that just part of the bad luck of being poor?

What does being poor have to do with anything? It is the wealth of the mind that counts.

What does being poor have to do with costly tutoring programs?

Did you really have to ask that?

From the thread:

"13. .... in an NPR story last year: “Even the lowest-paid immigrants scrape up enough money for tutoring, because those high schools are seen as the ticket to a better life” for their children. Thus, one immigrant family featured in the NPR story had spent $5,000 per year, of the parents’ combined $26,000 income as garment workers, to send their three sons to tutoring.

Their oldest boy, now a student at Stuyvesant, said of his mother, who did not speak English and, like her husband, did not finish high school in China:
“Basically, she just worked every day . . . and saved up the money.”
The Plot Against Merit by Dennis Saffran, City Journal Summer 2014



You Liberals would be well advised to look to apply the above to your destructive welfare policies.
Recipients should not be held to any less.

 

[PoliticalChic]

...but no, let's jump to lowering standards and dumb down everyone's education.

Nothing.....not one thing.....matters to Liberals except numerical equality.

 

[kaz]

For those who believed in authorizing a new class in America, based on skin color, this post will .....what's that Liberal term....oh...."offend."

They think blacks can't succeed on their own, so we're racist for thinking they can. So many non-white immigrants came here not even speaking English and made something of themselves. Clarance Thomas was right that lower standards are an insult to blacks.

 

[kaz]

Hardly a "plot" drama queen.

It's about equality of results, not equality of opportunity

 

[saveliberty]

Oh, regarding scholarships, it is okay to start one liberals. Open your checkbooks.