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Re:Reinstating our SAT/ACT requirement for future admissions... by freedomben on Monday March 28, 2022 @09:45PM (#30837800)
Did you really accuse me of being overly pedantic and then you used the terms "ad litteram" and "malo animo" (lol)

If you want to have productive conversations, you really need to read and write more carefully. Please point out where I did any of these things you're accusing me of doing:

1. Warped your intended context by accusing or even suggesting that you actually only care about people. If I thought that was your intent, I wouldn't have offered you constructive feedback to help improve the conversation. You were getting downvoted, in my opinion unfairly, and I was trying to help you see some potential reasons why. You literally asked about what GP thinks of "the people" and if I thought that's what you actually meant, why would I have suggested that you change it to something else? I would have just downvoted you and moved on like most others did.

2. Suggested in any way that I think SATs are systemically racist

3. Suggested in any way that I have any of the answers to any of the questions here.

Since you seem to care what I think on the topic (even though I didn't offer any opinion on it), let me first disclaimer this by pointing out that if I were going to advocate for a position on this, as a responsible person I would want to do a lot more research because I always try to maintain a healthy volume of Socratic Ignorance, and I recognize that I know very little on this subject. But anyway, I am pro-standardized testing. I think there are real flaws to it that should be admitted, just as there are with any quantitative analysis of something as complex as "likely to succeed," but I think the pros of testing outweigh the cons. I think that standardized testing is one of the few things that give people with less than ideal home situations a chance at a good education and a pedigree (which undoubtedly helps set people up for success). I think the focus on race that discriminates against Asians absolutely is systemic racism. I think it fits the definition of systemic racism better than almost anything else I can think of.

I'm not trying to be a pedantic prick who corrects your grammar, as I said before, I was trying to improve the conversation by giving you a tip (something your downvoters did not do I might add). People on the internet (especially in written forums) are not mind readers. They're not going to magically know that you didn't mean what you literally said (asking about "people"). If you're lucky, they'll do exactly what I did: Give you the benefit of the doubt and assume the best possible interpretation of what you wrote, which is that you didn't mean it literally. As you yourself just illustrated wonderfully, there are serious limits to written communication and it behooves us all to remember that and give each other the benefit of the doubt. From the HN FAQ: "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."

Now, please stop being so defensive, and please start reading more carefully, especially if you're going to get this offended and go off on the attack against people that care about you and are offering you kindness. I think if you re-read everything I said but this time do it with the idea that I'm a friend trying to offer you help to improve your writing and to get less downvotes, I think you'll come away with a much different impression.

Finally, welcome to Hacker News! This is a great community that I think you'll enjoy, but do please review the posting guidelines, especially the section "In Comments": https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re:Reinstating our SAT/ACT requirement for future admissions... by tomatowurst on Monday March 28, 2022 @10:57PM (#30838225)
Apparently you are not even remotely self-aware of your patronizing tone. I really don't know what you are trying to fish for here but I am well familiar with the HN rules, I just wish you took the time to read them ;)
Re:Reinstating our SAT/ACT requirement for future admissions... by freedomben on Tuesday March 29, 2022 @03:48PM (#30847484)
> Apparently you are not even remotely self-aware of your patronizing tone.

Thank you that's helpful feedback! I certainly didn't intend to be patronizing.

It took a bit of restraint to look past what felt like a personal insult and extract the useful part of your comment though. In the future it would have been a lot better as just a simple informative statement that assumes good faith:

> Your tone comes off as patronizing.

Re:

> I just wish you took the time to read them

Which rules would you like me to read? Can you either provide more information, or give a link and section header so I can know what specifically you're referring to?