Sowell on College Admissions?

Parents Forum
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<p>Anybody ever seen this-</p>

<p>Sowell:</a> Choosing a College Table of Contents</p>

<p>It purports to be by conservative academic Thomas Sowell (it's not really poliitical, even the sections on AA are pretty much merely informationsl).</p>

<p>It's dated but entertaining to read.
In section 11 under Coaches he does an analysis on probability of admission that seems a bit overly optimistic and simplistic to me, especially these days.(QuantMech?)</p>

<p>Plus he spells Counselors with a "c" instead of an "s" which made me suspicious he didn't write this, unless that is some sort of archaic alternate spelling I've never seen (or maybe just a typo). </p>

<p>But the content is entertainng, and a good deal makes sense.</p>

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<p>I <3 Thomas Sowell. He’s the one who revealed that the Elem Ed majors typically have the lowest SAT scores on campus…which is and has been a dirty little secret.</p>

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<p>I love Thomas Sowell because he wrote a book on late talking children and why they were actually brilliant and many of the characteristics they shared. It saved me from losing my mind with worry.</p>

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<p>Interesting to skim through, and a reminder of how much can change in twenty years.</p>

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<p>Sowell at his best:</p>

<p>[Formal</a> education isn’t for everyone–Thomas Sowell - YouTube](<a href=“Formal education isn't for everyone--Thomas Sowell - YouTube”>Formal education isn't for everyone--Thomas Sowell - YouTube)</p>

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<p>Not sure that is so secret. It is readily available from CB’s reports on SAT scores. One of the reports lists scores by intended major, which includes students aiming for Education, Park & Rec, Real Estate sales, as well as engineering, premed, prelaw, business, history, math, etc.</p>

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<p>I love Thomas Sowell, too! </p>

<p>And no dirty little secret in our house that my SAT scores were abysmal and I was an elementary school teacher. My oldest son has been known, on occasion, to rib me over the fact that my SAT scores from 1979 at age 17 were worse than his scores at age 11. Surely, I must get a few points added onto my score for raising such a humble guy. :-)</p>

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<p>I normally can’t stand Thomas Sowell (but I’m not allowed to say why). The choosing college piece seems sensible, though.</p>

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<p>Quote:
He’s the one who revealed that the Elem Ed majors typically have the lowest SAT scores on campus…which is and has been a dirty little secret.</p>

<p>================
Not sure that is so secret. It is readily available from CB’s reports on SAT scores. One of the reports lists scores by intended major, which includes students aiming for Education, Park & Rec, Real Estate sales, as well as engineering, premed, prelaw, business, history, math, etc.</p>

<p>================</p>

<p>What I mean is that it isn’t generally well-known to the public at large that many/most of our El-Ed teachers weren’t very strong students themselves…sort of the blind leading the blind in too many cases. Too many chose that major/career path because the curriculum is easy…too easy (and often quite insipid.)</p>

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<p>Someone I know said that the education majors she knew at college liked to make a big deal about their “projects” which seemed quite simplistic. </p>

<p>And isn’t the (required to keep teaching) Master’s degree program generally a joke, also? How difficult can it be? I mean, if the worst students (education majors) are required to obtain a Maste’rs degree, surely the difficulty of the degree reflects that.</p>

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<p>I would think that the skills required to be effective as a teacher in an elementary school setting are not well-measured by SAT scores.</p>

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<p>When you rank xx number of majors by test scores, someone has to be on the bottom. :)</p>

<p>Ed majors don’t do much better on the GRE. Engineers clearly struggle with the written word, as do Accountants.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.ncsu.edu/chass/philo/GRE%20Scores%20by%20Intended%20Graduate%20Major.htm[/url]”>http://www.ncsu.edu/chass/philo/GRE%20Scores%20by%20Intended%20Graduate%20Major.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>^^^</p>

<p>Ha…my PhD engineering student got a 770 on the verbal on the GRE…1570. So, not all are verbally-challenged. And, mine wasn’t too bad, either.</p>

<p>*Someone I know said that the education majors she knew at college liked to make a big deal about their “projects” which seemed quite simplistic. </p>

<p>And isn’t the (required to keep teaching) Master’s degree program generally a joke, also? How difficult can it be? I mean, if the worst students (education majors) are required to obtain a Maste’rs degree, surely the difficulty of the degree reflects that.
*</p>

<p>So true! When my SIL was working on her el-ed masters, her “project” was on achieving gender equity with classroom participation. I asked her why this is a project…can’t you just “call on a girl, then call on a boy,” and so forth??? Seriously, her masters degree was so easily attained while I worked like crazy on a masters in software engineering. She had tons of free time while I had zero.</p>

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<p>I agree with ADad in post #11. A person teaching kindergarten children how to sound out letters does not need to read Immanuel Kant. Patience is probably more important that just about anything else. A friend from HS who struggled through some college prep classes surprised me by going into teaching, but I think he might have been more able to instruct struggling students on what they were missing than an instructor who got it right away.</p>

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<p>^^^</p>

<p>True…a K teacher needs to have different qualities. In the old days, they needed to know how to play the piano! </p>

<p>But my kids’ best K-6 teachers were ones who I’m certain were strong students themselves.</p>