This is a brilliant article and a most interesting fact is that such fair exams actually did take place in the former Communist regimes. In a way, your proposal for the fair and bespoke entrance exams is like stating the obvious and logical things and it also describes the actual practice in the education system of the former so-called communist countries. . The education there was of a very high standard and there was no need for the extreme competitiveness as required by the US students and no need for that overload of administration, an awful complexity and other high costs and burdens. What mattered above all was to pass the entrance exam and that was all. And the entrance exams were tough. BTW. I love your books, I have them all.
Thanks Tilly. Even in the darkest days of the Eastern Bloc, the Soviet Union and its satellites had some excellent science. I'm following the case of Alex Shieh who is doing a "local DOGE" at Brown University (https://x.com/alexkshieh?lang=en). He emailed administrators how they are spending their time and has gotten reprimanded for it. It appears about half of all employees at Brown are administrators (non-faculty, non-buildings-and-grounds, non-dining, non-campus-police, non-health services, non-athletics-and-library). Shieh is trying to unpack Brown's now $90K-plus annual costs for students to attend.
That situation at Brown is reaching the level of an absurd theatre. And, unfortunately, it seems like this is now similar at all these elite schools. Funnily, Lenin actually warned about the absurd levels of bureaucracy that would become a feature of the advanced capitalist systems...decaying from within itself.
Great essay!! Elite institutions are,IMHO, overrated. Success in life is more determined by desire and need.
Always enjoy you sharing your thoughts.
This is a brilliant article and a most interesting fact is that such fair exams actually did take place in the former Communist regimes. In a way, your proposal for the fair and bespoke entrance exams is like stating the obvious and logical things and it also describes the actual practice in the education system of the former so-called communist countries. . The education there was of a very high standard and there was no need for the extreme competitiveness as required by the US students and no need for that overload of administration, an awful complexity and other high costs and burdens. What mattered above all was to pass the entrance exam and that was all. And the entrance exams were tough. BTW. I love your books, I have them all.
Thanks Tilly. Even in the darkest days of the Eastern Bloc, the Soviet Union and its satellites had some excellent science. I'm following the case of Alex Shieh who is doing a "local DOGE" at Brown University (https://x.com/alexkshieh?lang=en). He emailed administrators how they are spending their time and has gotten reprimanded for it. It appears about half of all employees at Brown are administrators (non-faculty, non-buildings-and-grounds, non-dining, non-campus-police, non-health services, non-athletics-and-library). Shieh is trying to unpack Brown's now $90K-plus annual costs for students to attend.
That situation at Brown is reaching the level of an absurd theatre. And, unfortunately, it seems like this is now similar at all these elite schools. Funnily, Lenin actually warned about the absurd levels of bureaucracy that would become a feature of the advanced capitalist systems...decaying from within itself.