tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post1126557945410841969..comments2024-03-27T03:19:11.216-04:00Comments on Assistant Village Idiot: Affirmative Action DiscussionAssistant Village Idiothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-45238932933242829352012-04-03T22:16:50.317-04:002012-04-03T22:16:50.317-04:00I seem to remember a study which said that childre...I seem to remember a study which said that children who eat at least one meal with their parents more than a minimum number of times per week have better educational outcomes than children who don't.<br /><br />This, if true, is still only correlation. The cause could be that parents who care about their children (and education of their children) tend to have a family culture which includes regular meals together.<br /><br />However, this does strike at another thing about education. Culture (family, ethnic, or otherwise) has a large effect on the way students study and learn.<br /><br />And it's really hard for educational reformer to touch. Or measure in a study.karrdehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00205160745963596856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-20748920020701214222012-04-03T21:17:20.173-04:002012-04-03T21:17:20.173-04:00Sadly, the evidence doesn't support that. Rea...Sadly, the evidence doesn't support that. Really bad schools, where it is dangerous and your cortisol levels are always elevated, are of course not good environments for learning. But when we measure what schools accomplish, comparing the scores of kids when they entered and when they left, measuring only the increase, not the overall achievement, moderately bad schools and very good schools aren't that different. There is some value in improving the schools, but it is not dominant.<br /><br />Many assume, and everyone wishes, that if you just got those minority kids a fair shake somehow, going earlier and earlier to get if for them, that they would just naturally catch up, at least mostly. They don't.<br /><br />It's a tangential issue to this one.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-71619157270699546392012-04-03T21:06:02.788-04:002012-04-03T21:06:02.788-04:00A reason, perhaps "the" reason, is that ...A reason, perhaps "the" reason, is that minority student's schools are bad,resulting in them being less educated, less learned, less able to compete.<br /><br />My vote is "the".Sam L.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-54759983271522648732012-04-03T13:27:32.667-04:002012-04-03T13:27:32.667-04:00I saw this with women in engineering back in the 1...I saw this with women in engineering back in the 1970's. In that era you could always tell the women who belonged in Engineering and those who were there because they were pushed to go there. It was a little sad because while the ones who didn't really belong did well with regard to getting jobs/promotions, they rarely enjoyed the work. Their professional success was due to frightened companies internal affirmative action policies.<br /><br />You also saw lots of women transferring to less quantitative areas such as management.<br /><br />It's still happening. One of my business partners daughter is an electrical engineer who graduated a few years back from RPI. She always remarked on the number of women, who, as she put it "shouldn't be here".<br /><br />This doesn't mean they couldn't master the topic, but going to a less competitive school would allow them to gain skills at their own pace.dmoellinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13128088863830769762noreply@blogger.com