

Who Gets to Graduate? - mikeleeorg
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/magazine/who-gets-to-graduate.html

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jchonphoenix
I'm going to be the unpopular voice in the room here, but as someone who has
worked my ass off my entire life, a 1030 SAT and 3.5 in high school hardly
seems like "acing" anything. In fact, that barely seems mediocre. College is a
whole different ball game and it's much harder. I've seen kids with 800 math
SATs and 4.0s in hs fail intro math in college. Why can't people accept that
sometimes things are just hard?

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caminante
You're right and the article eventually gets to that but not before using some
socioeconomic sizzle.

To recap, the article opens with a URM female getting shell-shocked in her
first semester. She's overwhelmed and sinking. The author then jumps into
broad socioeconomic analysis of outcomes. Fast forward 23 pages (!!!) in the
article, and a re-direction to the actual success factors (Grit™)...you learn
that she made it through the fall with a B+ in Stat and a reasonable 3.0
freshman GPA. I'm happy she turned the corner, but I...felt misled >_<.

Though I really enjoyed Paul Tough's book _How Children Succeed_ , I take
issue with his claim:

 _It is only students facing the particular fears and anxieties and
experiences of exclusion that come with being a minority — whether by race or
by class — who are susceptible to this problem. Those students often
misinterpret temporary setbacks as a permanent indication that they can’t
succeed or don’t belong at U.T._

It's not limited to minorities and women...UT's no joke -- like many colleges.
The honors programs (there are many at UT) are lights out. It's a humbling
experience, and it's not surprising to hear that the article's poster-child,
who "never had to study for math tests [in high school and] aced them all
without really trying" got pooped on freshman year. I don't have the numbers
but plenty of kids, regardless of URM status, got/get their bell rung in UT
freshman courses.

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praneshp
Pretty sure I've seen this on HN before. Can't find the link, unfortunately.

