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Friday, January 24, 2020

Links - 24th January 2020 (2)

The hotel I’m staying at gives you a free drink at the hotel bar of you forego a room cleaning : mildlyinteresting

timmcguiness on Twitter -  "Just in: UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ just announced her support of dropping the SAT and ACT as an admissions requirement. Says research has convinced her the tests" really contribute to the inequities" of the system."
"@TeresaWatanabe @wesyang Next - athletic scholarships will no longer be tied to athletic abilities but done on a lottery basis."
"They can follow Harvard's lead and admit students based on 'like-ability' ... where people with low SAT scores and short, grammatically-incorrect essays about 'privilege' are considered ultra-charming."
"One negative consequence is that high schools will have even more incentive to inflate grades. At least with the SAT one could observe a huge mismatch between grades and test scores and suspect that grades at one school may be generally easier than at an other more demanding one."

Test preparation and SAT scores - "When researchers have estimated the effect of commercial test preparation programs on the SAT while taking the above factors into account, the effect of commercial test preparation has appeared relatively small. A comprehensive 1999 study by Don Powers and Don Rock published in the Journal of Educational Measurement estimated a coaching effect on the math section somewhere between 13 and 18 points, and an effect on the verbal section between 6 and 12 points. Powers and Rock concluded that the combined effect of coaching on the SAT I is between 21 and 34 points. Similarly, extensive metanalyses conducted by Betsy Jane Becker in 1990 and by Nan Laird in 1983 found that the typical effect of commercial preparatory courses on the SAT was in the range of 9-25 points on the verbal section, and 15-25 points on the math section. One of the most remarkable aspects of this line of research has been the lack of impact it has had on the public consciousness"
In other words, "there is no peer-reviewed scientific evidence that coaching can reliably provide more than a modest boost — especially once simple practice effects and other expected improvements from retaking a test are accounted for"
This doesn't stop liberals from claiming standardised tests are racist because they discriminate against poor kids who don't have the money for test prep


No one likes the SAT. It’s still the fairest thing about admissions. - The Washington Post - "It’s true that any system can be gamed if you’re willing to cheat, and students from wealthier backgrounds do have some advantages over others. But eliminating or watering down the SAT wouldn’t solve this problem; in fact, it would make it worse — by removing the one relatively objective admissions criterion that can both prevent fraud and increase social mobility by helping all high school students find the best college opportunities they can.Higher test scores definitely help students get into higher-ranked institutions. We published an article last year in the Journal of Intelligence showing that simply listing U.S. colleges and universities by their average SAT and ACT scores essentially reproduces the influential rankings produced by U.S. News and other organizations, despite the fact that many of these rankings place little emphasis on test scores... It has become a mantra in some quarters to assert that standardized tests measure wealth more than intellectual ability or academic potential, but this is not actually the case. These tests clearly assess verbal and mathematical skills, which a century of psychological science shows are not mere reflections of upbringing. Research has consistently found that ability tests like the SAT and the ACT are strongly predictive of success in college and beyond, even after accounting for a student’s socioeconomic status. Parents in the top 1 percent of income are quite likely to be above average in intelligence, conscientiousness, self-control and other traits that can set the stage for success. But they also probably experienced a large dose of luck — favorable circumstances, coincidences, right-place-right-time accidents — and their children won’t necessarily have the same kind of luck. In fact, their children’s test scores tend to mark them for lower-ranked, maybe even much lower-ranked, colleges than their parents might expect based on their own economic achievements... The children swept up in the admissions scandal exemplify this: If the SAT were nothing but a wealth test, then Lori Loughlin, Mossimo Giannulli and other super-rich parents would not have had to cheat to get their kids into the latter two schools. In reality, they had to fake intellectual ability — the one thing they could not buy. A worried one-percenter who didn’t want to resort to crime might instead campaign to remove standardized tests from the admissions process. This would increase the importance of extracurricular activities, interviews and athletics, and wealth provides many more options for gaming these squishy metrics. Even high school grades, touted as an objective substitute for tests, may not be immune from the influences of wealth: A recent study by the economist Seth Gershenson found that GPAs were inflated more from 2005 to 2016 in the richest parts of North Carolina than in the rest of the state, echoing previous studies of other areas that used different methodologies... Advocates of eliminating them should realize that SAT scores don’t just block students from elite colleges — for every privileged student whose bad SAT score keeps them out, there is another student whose SAT helps get them in. Indeed, at one time the SAT opened doors for Jewish students who were intellectually qualified yet essentially barred from attending Harvard, Yale and Princeton. And the recent movement to make tests optional does not seem to have increased student-body diversity... we should consider a proposal by the education scholar Susan Dynarski: “SAT/ACT for all,” a universal requirement that every high school student take a standardized college admissions test, free of charge during school hours... The value of universal testing is supported by the work of economists Caroline Hoxby and Christopher Avery, who used test data to identify a “hidden supply” of high-potential students from low-income families who don’t even consider top colleges and universities where they could receive large scholarships. But if universal testing identified high-ability candidates from disadvantaged backgrounds, they could be advised on how to take advantage of financial aid programs to apply to and attend better schools than they would otherwise. Then the combination of their abilities and their top-quality college educations would make them very likely to climb the socioeconomic ladder."

The Equal Rights Amendment: Back for an Encore Performance? Well…Performance, Yes, But Actual Constitution-Making, Probably Not. - "Do left-leaning feminists really want the ERA to be ratified? Or is this just political theater? The safe bet is that, for most of these supporters, it's probably the latter.  Several years ago, in an essay entitled "The Equal Rights Amendment: Back for an Encore Performance?," I wrote that many of the same organizations that are pressing for the ERA's revival led the opposition to California's Proposition 209... These left-leaning feminist organizations opposed it with a passion. Instead, they supported preferential treatment for women, particularly affirmative action preferences in state jobs and preferences for woman-owned businesses in public contracting"

Public Housing Is Fundamentally Flawed - The Atlantic - " Advocates have not been discouraged by the fact that violence and neglect led to the demolition of previous generations of public housing. Nor by the rats, leaks, mold, and lead paint that have now brought the New York City Housing Authority, by far the nation’s largest operator of public housing, under the oversight of a federal monitor... American public housing hasn’t just been poorly executed; it’s an idea with inherent conceptual and practical flaws. Those who suffer the most are those it’s intended to help: low-income tenants... the original premise of public housing—that the private market could not serve low-income communities properly—does not hold up under scrutiny. As early as 1907, a study by the U.S. Immigration Commission found that in low-income communities, “84 in every 100 homes were in either good or fair condition … The neglected appearance of the streets is the result of the indifference on the part of public authorities.” In 1909 the President’s Homes Commission found that even the poorest households, on average, spent just 21 percent of income on rent. Housing for low-income communities consisted of small homes and buildings, close together—rowhouses in Philadelphia, three-decker homes in New England, walk-up apartments in New York. Rooming houses abounded. In the years since then, new housing of this nature has been zoned or otherwise regulated out of existence... Government can do many things well. But there is little evidence that property management is one of them... Yet even if public housing were easily built, well managed, and well maintained, it would pose a serious problem for the health of cities. Call it the frozen-city effect. In a healthy, dynamic city, neighborhoods and land use are constantly in flux amid the search for better uses of property. Poor neighborhoods can become gentrified—and affluent neighborhoods can become poor. But demolishing and redeveloping even the most troubled of the nation’s public-housing complexes took years of herculean effort by local and federal authorities. Once built, most public housing has remained frozen in amber for decades. It hardly matters if today’s low-rise apartments with parking lots could be reimagined as mixed-use, mixed-income, more walkable developments, or if they might be better suited for a new business looking to expand and provide jobs. Public-housing advocates, of course, favor the idea of “permanent affordability”—but they overlook the fact that new uses for city spaces can create jobs for low-income residents as well as wealthy ones. The notion of turnover and repurposing of city land was captured by the legendary urbanist Jane Jacobs. In her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961), Jacobs made tragically clear how public housing had destroyed lively low-income communities and small businesses, spawning what she called centers of “delinquency, vandalism and general social hopelessness.” Today’s public-housing advocates also overlook Bauer’s later-in-life concerns (expressed in her 1957 essay “The Dreary Deadlock of Public Housing”) that public housing was characterized by cold design and poor management."

Lady Maga on Twitter - *Liberal Drag Queen: Monster*
*Conservative Drag Queen: Beautiful*
"Any questions?"

Lady Maga on Twitter - *Liberal Drag Queen: Posing naked with pre-pubescent girl*
*Conservative Drag Queen: Posing with "Socialism sucks" T-shirt and "Babies Lives MATTER" sign*
"Any questions?"

British robbery suspect apparently tried to use pair of glasses to trick police - "David Springthorpe, 30, was wanted for allegedly shoplifting and violating a court order when he recently came into contact with a police officer in South Normanton. A "short chase" ensued, and he was detained"

Florida man asks police to remove mugshot from Facebook after theft, only for them to replace it with booking photo - "A Florida man accused of stealing over $1,000 worth of merchandise from Walmart was arrested on Thursday in Sarasota County after asking police to remove his mugshot from the department's Facebook page... Cody Pierce wasn't happy about his mugshot being posted on the DeSoto County Facebook page after police named him a suspect in the theft, so he took to the social media platform in hopes of getting the picture removed... He added his lawyer was "hungry for a case of slander and defamation of character."The DeSoto County Sheriff's Office responded on Facebook by telling Pierce they would happily remove his current mugshot and replace it with his booking photo if he decided to swing by their office... Pierce was arrested after taking them up on their offer... "As promised, we are now replacing Cody's previous photo with his BOOKING PHOTO!""

Chinese bitter melon – why the polarising ‘gentleman’s vegetable’ is just misunderstood - "In Chinese cuisine, bitter melon is sometimes called a “gentleman’s vegetable” because it doesn’t impart its bitterness on other ingredients when cooked. You’ll often find it stir-fried with fermented black beans or gently tossed with salted duck eggs... I’ve found that blanching chopped pieces with saltwater goes a long way in mitigating the melon’s bitter taste. A liberal coat of black bean sauce at the end is the cherry on top. There’s scientific evidence supporting this cooking method. A 1997 study found that salt selectively filters out flavours, suppressing bitterness while enhancing sweetness. It’s the same reason why some people sprinkle salt on their grapefruit and swear by a pinch of salt in their morning coffee."

Trains on UK railways now almost entirely state-owned – by foreign countries - "a significant proportion of the UK’s railways already are under state control, with Network Rail in charge of around 75 per cent of the industry, including the tracks, thousands of stations and signalling operations... almost all of these operators are (at least partly) state-owned already – only not by the British state... as Virgin Trains is soon reaching the end of the line, there are now few purely private operators left on UK railways."
Strange how many British people keep complaining about the railways being in private hands and how they'd do better back in public ownership. So if they complain about the state of their railways, this suggests that public ownership may not help

Rail across Europe: Public, private and beyond - "Europe’s railways have experienced dramatic change over the last 20 years, with the traditional state-owned railway corporation controlling both track and trains becoming a rarity. Countries including Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark have made radical reforms to the way in which both passenger and freight services are provided. In the case of regional passenger services, these changes are, in most cases, based upon strong devolved government, to mainly regional bodies (see TSSA Journal March 2012). However, inter-city and freight have not been immune from radical changes either. Some of the impetus for reform has come from the European Union, through a series of ‘rail packages’ which have liberalised the market for both international passenger and freight services... There is immense variation in how rail services are delivered within the EU, reflecting differing national priorities"
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