<p>I blame the universities and USNWR. Those of us who tried hard in high school become complete idiots by our senior years. We worry that an A minus might doom us, that we should retake the SAT II in chemistry because we only received a 750, that being in the top 6% of our class is death and that if we could just make it into the top 5% all would be good, that we're a failure if we don't get into a top-ranked school, and that we should ignore all schools not annointed by USNWR as a good school. We're zombie idiots!!!!!!</p>
<p>And then I really get p****** when I read that colleges are trying to attract more applications so that their acceptance rates will fall. Or that a college accepts 30% of those applicants in the top 5% but only 6% in the second 5%. What bull****. </p>
<p>Universities have turned us all into anal-retentive monster munches. And then if we're really lucky we get to pay $60,000 a year for the right to pursue our dream in their schools.</p>
<p>On the bright side, America needs more pressure on high school domestic students to do well. This country is ■■■■■■■■ compared to Europe and Asia and we hear about the inferiority all the time.</p>
<p>We have more harder working hard working kids but the most slacking slackers. As for those %s, it’s not set in stone that they only accept this much of this rank and that much of that rank it’s more of just the stats of how everything played out</p>
<p>The problem isn’t that the US doesn’t have enough talented and high-achieving students but instead that gulf between the highest scorers and the lowest is so wide…</p>
<p>I concur with the OP. Colleges are businesses whose goal isn’t to educate, but to make as much money as possible. The problem is that there are people who think that rote memorization and following orders correlates with intelligence. These corporations play on the insecurities of people who think going to Harvard or Princeton will somehow boost their intelligence. People need to understand that it is the individual, not the institution.</p>
<p>Socialism IS a four letter word and it isn’t capitalism that has failed, but BIG GOVERNMENT! </p>
<p>Just like the housing market and Fannie/Freddie the government stepped in and started subsidizing applicants with “financial aid” programs. Once colleges figured out that they would be guaranteed an endless pot of money they had no incentive to hold their tuition rates down through competition! Free markets work when they are allowed to, so look for the next bust when the student loan racket blows up and these kids graduating up to their eyeballs in debt can’t find a job and can’t pay their student loans!</p>
<p>Never in my educational life have I seen so much serious slacking. The word “work” has disappeared from both the vocabulary and consciousness of a very large bottom tier of between average and very capable students. It’s amazing. They truly cannot wrap their minds around the concept that just sitting in a chair might not be sufficient to earn a C or higher. “Homework”(??!!!) They are major bent-out-of-shape by the prospect of putting pencil to paper to write a paragraph or two (in or out of class), to research an article, to complete a longer-term project which every single one of their teachers walks the entire class through step by baby step, one due date at a time. (Unheard of in the days of most parents here.)</p>
<p>I just had a professional meeting yesterday with a truly prepared, informed, excellent American Lit teacher. The gymnastic mental tricks she has to go through to keep her students on task and interested enough beyond their 15-second attention spans should earn her an award for creativity alone. She was describing the lengths she has to go in varying even her introductions to class material, let alone the assignments. She’s so articulate and fascinating on her own, yet she has to be a magician & entertainer as a way of indirectly pleading to them to get moving. There are students on CC who would die for her abilities as a teacher – minus the entertainment.</p>
<p>And then you have the opposite end of the spectrum – the thousands of students applying to (cumulatively) about 50 colleges, who already have a college work ethic by about age 14.</p>
<p>applicannot, while you’re longing for America to become the next Cuba or North Korea, take a history class or two. You will then learn why socialism has earned its four-letter-word status. </p>
<p>I’m not talking about economic systems. I’m talking about colleges using our paranoia against us. They make decisions designed to increase applications not because they intend to accept more students, better students, or any other laudable goal. Instead, they want more applications just so they can decrease their acceptance rate. They do this because USNWR’s ranking system apparently gives brownie points to schools that disappointment the most applicants. I find that sickening. They tell us that ECs are important so students begin joining clubs like lemmings, striving to be an officer in as many clubs as humanly possible, logging unbelieveable volunteer hours, even though most students could not possibly care less about the “cause” of the club. They just want resume material. They tell us essays are important and those families with money pay thousands to “consultants.” SAT prep schools dot every corner. Etc., etc., etc. </p>
<p>Look at most of the messages on this board. </p>
<p>“Gee, my life is over. I got an A minus in AP Bio.” </p>
<p>“I’ve wasted the last four years. I’m a loser. Harvard didn’t accept me.” </p>
<p>“I have a learning disability. I just can’t score above 2290 on my SAT. I’m going to give up on life.” </p>
<p>“If my mother flew over Nigeria when I was in the womb, am I African-American?” </p>
<p>And I’m not claiming to stand on holier ground. I’ve been on this board for over a year. I worry about the same issues everyone else worries about. And I accept that there isn’t an easy solution to this problem. I just wish colleges wouldn’t make decisions designed to increase their status without considering how those decisions impact tens of thousands of 17-year olds.</p>
<p>I think the engine driving this mania is the USNWR poll. We’re stupid enough to think the people at this third-tier magazine are gods when it comes to determining which college is good and which is bad. Other than this annual poll, who even reads that magazine? So who annointed them the experts on our future?</p>
<p>I’d be more impressed if you took seven different history classes, as opposed to taking and failing the same history class seven times. </p>
<p>This forum’s purpose is not to discredit a polticial theory that has never been implemented by any country. Let’s stick to the topic: Discrediting academic institutions.</p>
<p>OCT, I would say that it isn’t necessarily correct to discredit the academic institutions. If anything, I say discredit the massive misconceptions people have over them.</p>
<p>Firstly, to address post #2, Penn accepts roughly 18-20% of those in the top 5% and 6% in the second five percent or so. The 30% figures have historically applied to valedictorians.</p>
<p>Secondly, as a Wharton/Penn graduate, I can tell you from experience that top universities have amazing students. There’s a ton of talent to go around, and this goes for most of the schools near the top end of those rankings – most of the kids definitely deserve to be there. I do, however, think that it’s silly to pick a #3 school over a #4 school simply because it’s #3, considering that the rankings flucuate annually. Nevertheless, the rankings are to some extent accurate when you start looking at tiers. It all does depend on where you want to go, since different schools are better at teaching different subjects, and what you’re interested in may lead you down a path that has nothing to do with the Ivy League.</p>
<p>The problem that I see: So many students are focusing too much on the wrong things. If you’re the type of student to freak out over an A- or think your life is over because of a 2290, then you have a massive misconception over the college admissions process. Even if you take a look at the Accepted Students threads at any of the top-school forums on this site, you’ll notice that you don’t have to be an absolutely perfect student. You need to be a strong student, granted, but you also need to have genuine passion and personality and not come across as a grade-grubbing gunner.</p>
<p>If you want to direct blame anywhere, blame the rumors and stereotypes that get horribly blown out of proportion.</p>