It has occurred to me that people on CC are among the best high school graduates and are very competitive. Based on this, does anyone else think that we need a real challenge? You know, something for people to really shoot for? Sure, Harvard only accepts 1500 out of the 1.4 million high school graduates each year, but that is still over 0.1%. There needs to be a college where you need a SAT above a 2350, three SAT’s in the high 790’s, and an Olympic Gold Medal before you are even considered. Then, that would be something.
<p>Who could teach at a place like that? And they'd have to make the doors extra wide to fit the blown-up heads of all the students through.</p>
<p>Go to India...</p>
<p>If you really want a challenge like that, get a time machine and warp 30 years into the past. Grow up in China during the cultural revolution.</p>
<p>In the U.S. I see the top 5% of the applicant pool scrambling over each other to get into a top-notch school.</p>
<p>Since the education system was so ****ed up after Mao died and the revolution ended, the top 5% of the applicant pool in China were scrambling over each other to get into any school.</p>
<p>Only 20% of the top 5% made it into college.</p>
<p>How's THAT for a challenge?</p>
<p>Or how about in the Soviet Union? That was based totally on birth and wealth. Or several centuries ago in any darn place on the planet? How about the challenge if dumbing yourself down or being killed because you defied the medieval church? There's no end to the difficulties we do not suffer in modern America.</p>
<p>More people go to college in the US than in some other countries, but in the US, a lot of the education level seems excessive. Because of competition for jobs, you sometimes have to have a college degree just to get hired as a security guard. Not that there is anything wrong with education ("Knowledge is Good"), but a lot of people go into debt for it.</p>
<p>Hey College<em>Here</em>I_Come, my dad was a part of that. Luckily he made it in..but ya I'm glad you brought up that topic. Today, it's still hard just to get into a "mediocre" college in China due to population problems.</p>
<p>***, didn't teachers get persecuted during the cultural rev?</p>
<p>joe: yes they did.</p>
<p>All a matter of perspective. I was chatting with a gentleman, a chef by profession, while we were pumping gas. His daughter was born when he was 14. They 'grew up together', as he put it. He supported her college aspirations, enabling her to earn her Associates degree in child care. She was the first one in the family to attend college and earn a degree. She does not have a 'fancy' degree, but her father is incredibly proud of her, and she is doing one of the most important jobs I can think of: helping to raise the next generation.</p>
<p>China has to be the most rigorous in terms of academics. I think in the province my cousin lives in, Tsinghua/Beida (the equivalents of Harv/MIT) accept 70 people out of about 800,000 students. <.01% is pretty small. And that's where the average student can score 800 on SAT math.</p>
<p>I think pretty much all decent Chinese students can easily score a 800 in math..my cousin is not even average in her class yet i think her math skills are amazing</p>
<p>lol, we're not sterotyping here at ALL, are we!</p>
<p>well it's a little true, you know. chinese do tend to smack maths easily.</p>
<p>ya but they suck at english. take me for example...</p>
<p>look at IIT.</p>
<p>Yeah, Qinghua University is super tough to get in. I used to live about a quarter mile away from there lol</p>
<p>^^ </p>
<p>tougher. at least in harvard, your not competing with 1 million other nerds with like 99% averages.</p>
<p>(not to descriminate, i'm chinese too)</p>
<p>Look into the Indian Institute of Technology.. Their admission is selective based solely on academics. If I am not wrong, in order to get accepted by IIT, you need to to pass the entrance exam which students usually start preparing for in 8th grade. Approximately 200,000 took the entrance exam and only 5000 were admitted..</p>
<p>In China, the kids who want to take liberal arts are probably given scholarships...cause they lack em there while here we're overrun with em.</p>