[zhugeIiang]

We have to consider not about who gets into Harvard. What is more important is the incentive structure that our education system is creating. If our system rewards people who play "victimization" games, that would encourage the next generation to prioritize writing stories that complain about the barriers in their way. If we had a system that rewarded learning a skill like mathematics, reading, writing, and only focused on these, we would have the next generation devoting more time, money, and energy to obtaining mastery over these. You can look at China, where families and students spend thousands of dollars on tutors, and some tutors are millionaires. Encouraging investment and dedication to learning is a good thing. True, you might take it too far, but it is far better to have an educated population that can think for itself.

The SAT should transition to something like the National Exam in other countries. Offered only once a year, entirely free, very rigorous, and encompassing all subjects. This will provide both the carrot and the stick for the next generation to apply themselves to education. We need a culture that loves education and learning, not just sports and drama.

[lunaru]

How about a balanced culture that can appreciate eduction, sports AND drama? We don't need a culture where everyone strives for excellence in one dimension. That's a very boring world and implicitly creates a pyramid/caste system where the high academic achievers get the lion's share of attention and praise. There's a reason National Exams in Asian countries are sometimes viewed negatively.

[zhugeIiang]

Sports and drama are fine as long as they aren't the overriding factor. The research on the Harvard statistics show that playing a sport will increase your admission chance from 10% in the top academic bracket to 50%. Sport, legacy (rich), or dean's list (kushner rich).

I would say given the rapid economic growth of Asian countries, the success of Asians around the world, and the need of America to import Asian engineering labor, we have a lot to learn from Asia.

Just look at the 2012 CIA debacle in China. The entire CIA informant network in China was decapitated because China has superior engineers that hacked the CIA communication system. We need to open our eyes and realize that playing silly games have left us weak. We have a weak minded electorate that elects a weak minded president while China is racing ahead with CRISPR and rail guns.