tuition grant

[Nick Gorton]

OK, Allan here it is in a nutshell:

1) We should foster talent where it takes form in kids. But the unfettered
reification of 'merit' is profoundly damaging. Any system that uses 'merit'
as defined in a way that disproportionately favors affluence does not
measure real merit. So unless you accept that Calvinist <expletive> that
those who do well are loved by God, you cannot believe that the current
system measures true merit.

2) Given that systems that are 'purely merit based' are inherently biased
against the disenfranchised in our society (whether that is through class,
race, whatever) it is a good idea to ensure that such systems are modified
in such a way that this unavoidable bias can be at least minimized.

3) This unfettered entitlement flies in the face of those ideas.
Upper-middle-class and upper-class students do not need a $1700/semester
grant to be able to succeed, nor is it likely to be a significant incentive
to most of these kids (over the already inexpensive cost of in-state
tuition.) You can't make everything fair, and there will always be the kid
whose parents disown him. But those extreme examples should not be the heart
of public policy.

4) The cost of this is entitlement is estimated to be 3 million dollars
annually. Removing only those kids who come from upper-middle-class and
upper-class families will likely save about a million dollars a year. Just
as we both would prefer that $0 of our taxes go toward the US killing
machine, I would prefer my taxes go to deserving (solid but maybe not top
2%) students that might not attend college *at all* before I would like to
see it send Bill Gates' kid to school no matter how talented he is. Its not
that Gates' kid doesn't deserve to go to school - he just doesn't need
public funds to pay for it.

So that is your summary, but I want to respond to one more specific point in
your post: "I don't see much that can be done to 'level the playing
field'--especially by 10th/11th/12th grade or college entrance."

A huge amount can be done, and there is a LOT of empirical data to back that
up (rather than the anecdotes we are trading.) First, you don't aim for the
kids at the very bottom by the 12th grade. It is a tragedy, but the further
kids get behind, the less you can do to alter the course of their lives.
However there is always a kid you can help.... unfortunately there is a
never ending supply of talented kids who have fallen 'just a little behind'.

You look to the kids you can help the most who also need the most help: find
the most talented of the lower-classes. Maybe admit them to a school like
NCSSM despite less than perfect grades and an SAT that was less than the
median of the school. Maybe give greater weight to the letter from that kids
mentor from a juvenile-justice diversion program who says that he's one that
this opportunity might really help since he's done so well despite crushing
poverty and an abusive home. You certainly can't do that with every kid, or
NCSSM wouldn't be what it is. And weighing that one kids *need* greater
than his 'merit' would mean that another kid with greater 'merit' but less
need would lose the amazing NCSSM experience.

But if programs and places like NCSSM did not make those decisions, I would
not be here. Because that was me.

Nick

-- 
R. Nick Gorton, MD
Diplomate, American Board of Emergency Medicine
808 F Street #311
Davis, CA 95616
(504) 261-8379

The plural of anecdote is 'not data.' - Roger Brinner.

Few arguments are more dangerous than those that "feel" right but can't be
justified. -Stephen Jay Gould

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