jbugden@smtplink.alis.ca wrote:

Clay Olbon II <olbon@ix.netcom.com> wrote:

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Seriously, you ignore the correlation between performance in college and standardized test scores. There is a reason these are used in admissions - they are actually pretty good predictors of the ability to perform college level work.

This is a commonly held fiction that is not supported by the evidence. As stated in another message, the infomration given out by ETS, who administer the GMAT and SAT, indicate that there is a low correlation between GMAT scores and successful completion of even first year education programs. This also ignores the issue of why other, better, widely available predictors are not used instead.

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Oh, I forgot. Only certain racial/ethnic groups are capable of understanding basic mathematical concepts. <

There was a good Scientific American article on cultural influences on learning within the last year or two. It examined Asian groups noted achievements in tests and the parental and cultural support for scholastic achievement. Another anecdotal example is in the opening chapters of "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman" by Richard Feynman, the late Caltech professor and general bon vivant. He describes how his mother introduced a doctor, a general and a professor with the same respectful tones indicating to him that a career in academia was as highly valued as any other high position in society.

Speaking of Feynman (who was not only a scientific genius, but was rather shrewd in his personal judgements as well), when approached by David Lifton (I believe) on the subject of the sudden large-volume displacement of JFK's upper torso in the fatal head shot, Feynman found a subtle inconsistency in the frames of the film, and thereby excused himself from rendering an opinion. For comparison, when Allen Dulles was confronted directly with the same evidence, he said "I don't see any backward movement".