tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27946614.post2484453867961586356..comments2024-03-07T14:43:21.888-08:00Comments on Whatever I want to write about: What does SAT expand to? Student Affluence Test!Sriram Khéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06907731254833435446noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27946614.post-72657578491745228712014-10-13T09:08:19.656-07:002014-10-13T09:08:19.656-07:00Of course, it is the "average" that publ...Of course, it is the "average" that public policies are all about. When Anon comments about interested in the outliers, well, it makes for interesting case studies but doesn't do anything for public policy-making. <br />And, of course, the "possibility" exists for one to rise above one's station in life. However, the data show that the "probability" is nowhere anywhere near the highs that we naively imagine to be the case. While your examples are encouraging no doubt, Ramesh, that is from a population of a billion people, and we need to keep in mind the larger data. The meritocracy notion works well in theory, but is a lot more unreal in the world.Sriram Khéhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06724218458246880137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27946614.post-85850798354242367732014-10-13T00:13:26.412-07:002014-10-13T00:13:26.412-07:00I would rather be interested in the outliers in th...I would rather be interested in the outliers in this data pool. Look for the number of kids in the low income grps that have really high scores. As long as that increases over the years....then junk this data. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27946614.post-27130487254560401952014-10-12T21:28:22.334-07:002014-10-12T21:28:22.334-07:00The operative word in your analysis is "avera...The operative word in your analysis is "average". Yes, on an average rich kids will do better than poor kids, its better to choose your parents, etc etc.<br /><br />BUT (and this is a big but)<br /><br />It IS possible to rise well above your station. The US has historically been, and still is, the best place for this to happen. However faulty it may be, the US is still a meritocracy. Increasingly India and China and moving that way. I know of numerous personal examples from both India and China, where children have risen 5 or 6 levels above their parents. This was largely through education. <br /><br />The real life experience that brings tears to my eyes every time I think about it is the lady who was our domestic help 15 years ago. She had three daughters. She worked in some 7 or 8 houses those days to earn money. She worked her socks off to educated her three girls. All three girls did computer sciences. One works for TCS, one works for Wipro and one works for Infosys today. Woohooo.<br /><br />Its not all doom and gloom my friend.Rameshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11782192840421019943noreply@blogger.com