Are Bad Grades Discriminatory?

[impartialobserver]

1 minute ago, Nationalist said:

What bias? What the hell are you getting at here? That a degree is not essential? Dude...I'm living proof of that.

Your desire to have the last word or "be right". 

i am simply pointing out why the 4 year degree became more in vogue than being a laborer from the 70's up to 2010. A lot of success stories were made. Folks get the degree, get the "good job" but then quite a few did not. Out of that narrative came the drive to artificially pump up one's grades.. because they had to get the "good job". The younger generation has came to their senses on their own. 

[cannuck]

On 4/1/2024 at 6:21 PM, Perspektiv said:

I run the show, as do most C students I went to high school with. 

It also doesn't jive statistically.

Look at the straight A student billionaires. You won't find many.

Someone who is that rich, is smart enough to see beyond what they are told to do, and are masters at figuring it out on their own. Something many A students will lack, who tend to be by the book.

Maybe many A students will find themselves in managerial positions or supervisory ones. But ultimately would be statistically taking orders from someone like me.

Nothing wrong with being an A student. I just don't see it being the end all, if you want high success.

I chose this post for response, as it is typical of many attitudes.

First of all: you (and much of the world) assumes academic score relates in any significant way to intelligence.   It does not.  In the very broad world of academia test scoring is one of the main tools to progress and recognition.  Unfortunately, testing (especially at lower levels) relies for the most part on little more than memory - and those who have good recall combined with some fairly basic intellectual skills plus an attitude of participation and harmony within the institutional setting will score well.   It is extremely difficult to measure actual intelligence (IQ scores notoriously inaccurate, but far better than HS or Uni testing).

The world in general (and appreciate the OP pointing this out) assumes that accumulation of wealth is some display of intellectual gift.  It is not.  In my experience people who are genuinely smart often have two HUGE impediments to the easy path to wealth = integrity and conscience.   Anyone can become a billionaire by simply following the rest down the well documented paths to riches.   Hard to do when you are cursed with the awareness of how badly you have to screw the rest of the world over to get there.

[Guest]

26 minutes ago, cannuck said:

Hard to do when you are cursed with the awareness of how badly you have to screw the rest of the world over to get there.

Someone genuinely smart, will likely not have the risk tolerance required in order to successfully run a large business.

I look at my wife as an example. She is smart yes, but she has king sized balls (figuratively speaking o_O).

She sees the opportunity at the end of the massive risk, most simply will not be willing to take.

She's feisty, so will happily sharpen her elbows in the heat of competition and use people trying to take her legs from under her, as fuel to expand further.

It takes a mix of smart, emotional intelligence and a bit of crazy and ballsy to do the trick.

There is a reason why there are so many immigrant entrepreneurs. They literally came over with little for many, so have nothing to lose.

Many often are also not spoonfed and had harder lives (you wouldn't flee your country otherwise), which gives them the intestinal fortitude.

My wife bought a dilapidated property for dirt cheap. It is worth 5 times the cost she paid for it a decade ago, but she made a couple catastrophic mistakes which cost her nearly 10 grand.

I bailed her out, but the attitude of the person will determine how far they go.

She was angry, devastated, even but it was a rather small loss.

She learned so many lessons, and was quick to apply them to her current restaurant that she opened.

To me, grades are trivial.

I dropped out of high school. 

I had to go to adult high school for a diploma, then took a college for the quickest and most relevant certificate I could get in business.

The certificate mattered little to me, but I knew it mattered to employers.

I learned my most valuable skills on my own time. I went to libraries. Read tons of books. Booked spots at free seminars. 

Talked to people who had done what I was aiming to do.

Knowledge is free, or real knowledge.

"Leveling the playing field" in terms of education, won't make anyone any smarter.

There are certain things you can't teach.