Covid As An Example

There is a lot circulating now, especially on the conservative side, about the negative impact of school closings on student performance that is continuing into the present. According to Rob Henderson, there is almost no drop in the test scores of the better students, and even the average students were not much affected. But the worst students are no doing worse still. They got used to being absent from school, they often did not have anyone trying to make up for the lack of structure, no one trying to compensate for fewer opportunities.  

This is a pattern not only in schools but in churches, businesses, neighborhoods. Those that are doing well already tend to widen the gap from those who were doing poorly.  Lots of marginal restaurants went under, because an additional difficulty was too much.  But many who were forced to find ways to compensate developed a new line, a new way of doing business, and are now doing better.  Our church has mentioned often that as we were meeting under big tents in the summer we became used to the idea that we could build a more permanent pavilion, where we now meet every summer. Youth groups and other activities also use it.  We wouldn't have built it otherwise.

Getting rid of test scores for college acceptance was actually detrimental to minorities and poorer students.  Many of them hadn't known how smart they were (nor had their teachers). Many had little contact with people who had experience identifying which colleges they would succeed at. And test scores are one of the hardest pats of the admission process to game. Better students go up 75-100 points a years even without SAT prep. But letters of recommendation, GPA's, personal interviews, personal essays - those are more easily affected. This favors the rich kids over the talented ones. My first two sons did not have unusually difficult lives, but tell them to write an essay about what they have overcome and they could both do it far better than their three younger brothers, who actually had overcome difficult circumstances. 

Affirmative action worked out great for minority students with above average tests scores, grades, and contacts already. They got an extra boost. But the poorer students went to the wrongs schools, the wrong programs, the wrong trainings because they could now get in. Program matching matters and results in more minority doctors, lawyers, and Indian chiefs.