(03-11-2014 09:40 AM)JSA Wrote:  

(03-10-2014 08:42 PM)Rick Gerlach Wrote:  

(03-10-2014 01:23 PM)Caelligh Wrote:  

(03-08-2014 07:13 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  ...I'd go further and say that it's an absurdly idiotic goal. Brighter parents should 1) make more money, and 2) have brighter kids.

I respectfully disagree with #1. There are bright parents who do not make a lot of money because they have chosen to go into professions that are not high-paying professions (e.g., teaching and art). There are also parents who make a lot of money who do not seem to be bright (e.g., a number of celebrities and politicians). In addition, there are parents who are down on their luck economically for the near or long term due to market conditions, medical situations, etc.

Added for clarification: I do agree that brighter and/or more highly educated parents would tend to have brighter and/or more highly educated kids.

You make some good points, but like everything in life it's a lot more complicated and convoluted in practice.

I've always thought of that the SAT is to admissions officers what the 40-yard dash time (or the # of 225 lb bench presses) is to the recruiting coordinators for the football team.

It's a helpful tool, but it obviously can't predict how successful you are in making a choice as to whom you invite to join your school or team.

Here's complication.

Is intelligence (or I.Q.) the same thing as wisdom? I'd say no, wisdom (to me) is the ability to apply knowledge. For that matter is knowledge the same thing as intelligence?

And there is the emotional IQ factor. You can know everything there is to know about a subject, be a SME, but if you have difficulty relating to people one-to-one, or cannot understand how other people are going to behave, or react to behavior, including your own, then that expertise can be wasted. This is a tangent, but one to think about.

The SAT test also measures speed. Some people are more methodical thinkers/analyzers, and basically just work more slowly. Is that value-less?

How about character? And how do we measure that. And should that play a part in who we educate? Can you teach character? (The answer is yes, but I think there are even limitations there. The Sandy Hook shooter had some major issues that I'm sure his mother did everything within her power to address.)

If education is the process by which we gain knowledge, and college admissions is how we determine who gets access to this knowledge, who are we better off educating?

Someone who has demonstrated wisdom with limited knowledge?
Someone who has a high IQ, but may be lacking in other areas?
Someone who can game the system to gain an advantage?
Someone who is willing to work harder and longer than everyone else?

I'm not saying there are good answers. Any time there is competition for limited resources, the outcomes will depend on a combination of things: talent; opportunity, understanding the rules completely, understanding how you can take advantage of the rules, etc.

This gets back to the observation that some people that may not be considered 'smart', or a term more commonly used by a larger portion of the population than posts here: 'book smart', can still manage to accumulate more wealth than the vast majority of people that they are 'not as smart as'. They generally are good at understanding and playing within the rules of the 'game' they are playing, or they may be exceptionally wise about the application of the knowledge they have, or they may have emotional qualities (the ability to work with others at a level that's off scale) that off-set a perceived intelligence gap.

Then there is the question of what game you're choosing to play. Mother Theresa chose a different playing field, for whatever reasons.

A good admissions process will take all of this into consideration.

"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, not a vegetable. Wisdom is not putting tomato juice in the fruit punch."

and putting in the bloody mary mix.

(03-11-2014 09:40 AM)JSA Wrote:  "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, not a vegetable. Wisdom is not putting tomato juice in the fruit punch."

Conventional wisdom, maybe.

Unconventional wisdom says, if it can make a good smoothie, it can make a fruit punch.
http://www.yummly.com/recipes/tomato-juice-smoothie