<p>Grade inflation is a real problem... --if the average GPA at a school is 3.5, but the average ACT score is 20, and more than 50% of those students have to take remedial classes in basic math or English when they get to college, you can see that those high GPAs don't mean much. That's why we have standardized tests.</p>
<p>FortBendnow.com</a> - News for Fort Bend County, TX</p>
<p>Olive Hsiao is the Valedictorian for the Class of 2008 at Lamar Consolidated High School. She is the daughter of Tom and Mary Hsiao and lives in Sugar Land.</p>
<p>Olive will graduate with a grade point average of 111.5607 and plans to attend the University of Texas in Austin and major in business.</p>
<p>Here in Ontario students do not write standardized tests. Students are accepted based on their record of the last two years of high school.</p>
<p>While the universities can not control the grades given by the teachers, they can demand certain courses as pre-requisites for admission into specific courses of study. I know of one place, Waterloo, that actually adjust the marks given by schools based on the performance of the students from that given school in previous years. </p>
<p>Applying to college is really easy. Students are given a form in Oct/Nov to fill out, stating their preferences. These forms are send to a clearing center in Guelph and the information is rerouted to the colleges. Early in the new year the college would be sending out recruiting information to the students and strong students are given conditional admission as early as Feb. Highly competitive programs may ask for additional personal information or competition results.</p>
<p>Because the curriculum is standardized across the province, the system works quite well. I am, however, not sure how students taking foreign qualifications are admitted.</p>
<p>Another thing, to continue to apply Swifts proposal to modern times, I suspect if we just, uh, do away with, anyone with a GPA below 110, we'll be all set. And if everyone has a GPA of 110 or better, we could have a tie breaker, something along the lines of Celebrity Death Match. WWF Friday Night Smack-Down? Math Quiz?</p>
<p>"I know sports will not be important at either university but don't forget even Caltech managed to get a segment on Sports Center."</p>
<p>I think you underestimate the likely athletic prowess of students at both of these schools. They may not play hard, but they will play smart.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>That is a very good point. Plus the mathlets will not need any tutoring which will leave the athletic departments with extra cash they can use for remedial jumping, running or throwing classes. I can also see the boosters donating "irrational" amounts of money to the program.</p>
<p>I really feel sad about the thread coming from a moderator.
Why don't we just create public universities like high school where the admission is by virtue of your living in the region for the universities?</p>
<p>You know the problem with US education because we say 1 hat fit all or lets teach all student same things. That is why our public schools are failing and now we dream of proposing universities that will fail to adequately prepare young adult to take on the ever increasing global competition.</p>
<p>Do the op even understand where US rank in terms of math/science knowledge in high school children with respect to other develop countries?</p>
<p>I really feel pity for such people.</p>
<p>I have enjoyed reading this thread because of its satirical nature. It seems that was the original intent of this along with the parallel SSU thread. However I am getting confused.</p>
<p>ParentOfIvyHope writes: "Why don't we just create public universities like high school where the admission is by virtue of your living in the region for the universities?"</p>
<p>Is this question in jest or is it serious?</p>
<p>Great idea. GPAU can be expected to attract conformist brown-nosers like lemmings, thereby ridding other elite campuses of these annoying creatures.</p>
<p>So, the lemming will be our mascot?</p>
<p>Why not? The big social event of the year, perhaps a part of the Homecoming festivities, can be the Lemming Parade. At first, the students will march all together toward the highest point on campus, preferably a cliff. But just before they reach the edge, they will branch off into smaller flocks based on the major. These groups will make a bee-line toward their office of their respective department head, where they will chant "We demand grade inflation!"</p>
<p>I think the lemming will make an excellent mascot for our august institution. </p>
<p>To ParentOfIvyHope: </p>
<p>The earlier post in this thread that mentions the essay by Jonathan Swift (with a link) explains the nature of the modest proposal in this thread.</p>
<p>"Why don't we just create public universities like high school where the admission is by virtue of your living in the region for the universities?"</p>
<p>I like this idea, but it isn't radical enough. How about creating Total Diversity University (TDU), which will choose its admittees entirely at random, ensuring that neither objective nor subjective criteria will be used unfairly to reduce diversity. Assuming a broad enough applicant base, the school will fully reflect the rich tapestry of our diverse society. Its academic approach might be somewhat like high school, I suppose, but that is a small price to pay for complete fairness.</p>
<p>
[quote]
"Why don't we just create public universities like high school where the admission is by virtue of your living in the region for the universities?"
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Umm, guys...
We have these.
Thousands of students attend them.</p>
<p>They are called open admission colleges and are open to residents of the state they are in, as long as they have a H.S. diploma or a G.E.D.</p>
<p>In Minnesota, for example, the community colleges are open admission.</p>
<p>In Ohio, the regional campuses of Ohio State are open admission. If you graduate from high school in Ohio or if you live in Ohio and have a G.E.D., you can attend Lima, Mansfield, Marion or Newark. You can stay there to graduate, or you can seamlessly transfer into OSU.
Ohio</a> State Lima Admissions
Ohio</a> State Mansfield
The</a> Ohio State University at Marion
The</a> Ohio State University at Newark - Future Students</p>
<p>This country already has open admission universities, but they admit those students who have G.P.A.s too low for G.P.A. University. We want only the highest G.P.A. students for the university we modestly propose.</p>
<p>^which should have a required course in "Understanding Satire 101".</p>
<p>Admission to leading universities in most parts of the world is a game of chess. In America, it is backgammon.</p>
<p>Great analogy, Canuckguy.</p>
<p>And it applies everywhere except in Texas, where if your grades put you in the top 10% of your high school class, admission to the top university in the state is like - I don't know what - starting first at tic-tac-toe maybe.</p>
<p>Hell, why dont we just let em all in. Then nobody would have to worry about GPAs, SATs, URM's, FA's, ACTs, ECs, LACs, CCs, GCs, and MITs. Admittedly the details are a little fuzzy, but I believe the collective wisdoms of the California and Texas legislatures could iron out the rough spots. Maybe a lottery or raffle or drawing names out of a hat. To paraphrase the lottery in my state, Somebodys gotta get in to Berkeley, might as well be you.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Olive will graduate with a grade point average of 111.5607 and plans to attend the University of Texas in Austin and major in business.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>In reading this passage, I recognize a potential problem that G.P.A.U. should try to avoid. </p>
<p>Imagine the scenario that could have occurred if Olive's school had rounded her GPA down from 111.5607 to 111.56. Had this been the case, the G.P.A.U. admission officer (I suspect there would only need to be one part-time person in the admissions office) would enter Olive's average as 111.5600 into the Excel spreadsheet. After sorting the spreadsheet by decscending GPA, the ordered list would place Olive below a hypothetical 111.5601-GPA, three-varsity-sport, French-horn-playing, Siemens-finalist, URM applicant from a four-decimal-place-school in the coal fields of West Virginia--even though Olive has higher stats!</p>
<p>To avoid such perversions of justice, I suggest that G.P.A.U. establish guidelines for GPA to be reported by the high school guidance office (or homeschooling equivalent) to at least seven significant digits. This guideline could be stated as "strongly encouraged" though the implication of "required" would be clear to most high schools.</p>
<p>(Having read the story of Olive, though, I must confess to being a tad confused as to why an applicant with a 4.39 would waste the application fee to G.P.A.U, though....)</p>