What College Applications Shouldn’t Ask

Submitted by Matt on Mon, 2015-05-25 23:09

Article here. Excerpt:

'During the 1990s, schools began as a matter of course to criminalize adolescent misbehavior — reclassifying mere shoving matches as acts of “extreme” violence and throwing students out for cursing. The notion of penalizing college applicants for minor misbehavior when they were 14 or 15, when a child’s impulse control is notoriously weak, is unfair on its face. It is even less defensible when you consider that suspension policies are applied arbitrarily and in a racially discriminatory way. “Disruptive behavior” often means talking back to a teacher. And in some places, weapons possession is seen as “not at all violent” while shoving matches are viewed as “extremely violent.” Depending on where a student lives, firecrackers or toy guns can get the student suspended for “weapons possession.”

Colleges that use the disciplinary information in admissions often make matters worse by doing so haphazardly. According to the study, only about a quarter of the 408 colleges that responded to the survey have formal written policies on how the data should be interpreted — and only about a third have trained their admissions staff in how to interpret disciplinary violations. These shortcomings mean that at least some students can be unnecessarily rejected for innocuous violations. And those who are admitted despite violations can be barred from living on campus, placed on probation and so on.

Disciplinary data is junk information that can hurt students while doing nothing to meaningfully distinguish them from other applicants. Clearly, many schools realize that. About half the 1,360 high schools that answered the survey had chosen not to disclose the information. Of course, this means applicants from districts that do share the information can be penalized merely because of where they live.

Given the inherent unfairness of this system, school districts should adopt a policy of withholding disciplinary information, and colleges should refrain from using any such information in admissions decisions.'

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Comments

Same bunch that effectively wants boys slam-dunked out of colleges upon a mere accusation of wrong-doing so long as it's made by a female.

The NYT, though it's managed to pen this editorial w/ some common bloody sense, is still on my Generally Assinine List for editorial positions involving these sorts of topics. One "A" on a quiz can't save a student with a semester-full of "F"s from flunking the course, and the NYT is no exception. The Times still sucks and will continue to suck until it gets its collective editorial head out of its collective editorial ass.

This essay is a good start. Keep it up, Times, and you may one day see redemption. But I'm not counting on it. I predict you'll go bankrupt first or get bought by some conglomerate that'll gut you for your properties and assets like Gordon Gecko wanted to do with Blue Star Airlines in "Wall Street" and leave the empty skin on the sidewalk to get sniffed at by alley cats.

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Submitted by Matt on Mon, 2015-05-25 23:13

This is one of many reasons why I homeschool. My children's "permanent school record" is clean (because no record exists). Part of my protective attitude comes from experience of being a foster child, difficulty fitting in at school, and being punished and suspended for ridiculous things which ended up going thru the court system.

Many schools have "zero tolerance" policies which defy common sense, and have automatic suspension policies for any form of physical contact even if is self defense. This means that if a group attacks a student they will all get suspended, even the victim. Not only do suspensions get put on record, it is also cause for the student to be banned from participation in activities including sports. And I will point out that boys get suspended much more compared to girls.

BTW, homeschoolers have access to any part of the public school system if they want. When my kids reach high school age, they may play on the local schools sports team even though they wont attend any classes.

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Submitted by Kris on Tue, 2015-05-26 21:19

Kris, since you homeschool, check this out for your kids

http://www.egfi-k12.org/

There is a link at the top ("teachers") for lesson plans that are readily comprehensible

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Submitted by ThomasI on Wed, 2015-05-27 09:14

Avoid the lego robots AT ALL COSTS

It is a total waste of time.

Go to the internet and for about 100.00 you can buy a REAL make-yourself-a-robot kit

And you can SEE the resitors and capacitors and so on.

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Submitted by ThomasI on Wed, 2015-05-27 09:15

Thanks Thomas. My kids love robotics.

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Submitted by Kris on Wed, 2015-05-27 15:44