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Re:Jewish Problems (2011) by rablackburn on Tuesday August 10, 2021 @10:41PM (#28137319)
> The results are not achieved by different standards for graduation, but by different standards for admission.

This is the key callout I think. It allows you to address representation problems while sidestepping opposing arguments about graduate quality.

Do it in rounds, unfilled spots open up to anyone.

If your child really wants to be a doctor but can’t get a spot, well, I’m sure that increased demand for medical spots means you’re willing to pay more, and the University can use that to expand their medical program. Or you can send them to another university.

This seems like a reasonable approach to improving systemic inequalities without causing systemic harm.

Re:Jewish Problems (2011) by babesh on Tuesday August 10, 2021 @10:59PM (#28137424)
If there is a positive correlation between admission standards and graduate ability, what you have done is lowered the average but left it above the bar (assuming that the bar isn't curved).

There is still the question as to whether certain admission standards are actually correlated with graduate ability. I wonder if there is a way to find out?

Re:Jewish Problems (2011) by rablackburn on Wednesday August 11, 2021 @05:57AM (#28140084)
You mean if there is a positive causation ;)

But yeah, I think the difficulty of sociology makes it tough to reason about these issues in a comprehensive, logical way. And it's so hard to experimentally prove _anything_ when proving the counterfactual is "well, we'd need to split reality into two and wait 50 years".