[delichon]

Maybe colleges and scholarships that make admission decisions based on adversity can someday objectively measure it by DNA methylation. Also for reparations or welfare benefits. It would seem to be a more direct proxy than melanin pigment density.

But on the other hand, adversity does not equal disadvantage, and in fact the trials that leave those marks -- beneath some threshold -- may bestow an advantage over unstressed peers. Like released hatchery fish have ~10% of the survival rate of wild fish.

A low methylation score could be interpreted as a call to mature a child's tissues more rapidly by the curated application of adversity.

[Aurornis]

> Maybe colleges and scholarships that make admission decisions based on adversity can someday objectively measure it by DNA methylation. Also for reparations or welfare benefits.

> A low methylation score could be interpreted as a call to mature a child's tissues more rapidly by the curated application of adversity.

The paper didn't even find a unidirectional correlation between methylation and adversity. They say right in this article that some adversity was correlated with changes they would expect to see with slowed aging (which does not mean adversity slowed aging, it's just a marker).

Those markers are also correlated with many other factors like the size of the animal.

It's not a marker of adversity.

[rbanffy]

> The paper didn't even find a unidirectional correlation between methylation and adversity

Since when has science stopped someone who wanted to use DNA to assign someone a fixed role in society?

[jmole]

> released hatchery fish have ~10% of the survival rate of wild fish.

Is that inclusive of the entire egg->fry->fish cycle? I wouldn't be surprised if wild fish had extremely high "infant mortality" compared to hatchery fish

[MyHonestOpinon]

I am not sure if your initial paragraph was meant to be sarcastic. I do believe we should give additional help based on economic need rather than race or skin color.

Free universal preschool seems to have big impact. Also free universal school lunches are too. There may be other examples too.

[alex43578]

Sure, many of those interventions are widely accepted. The controversial question is when do they stop?

If, despite those interventions, your ACT score is 9 points below a more affluent student, do you still deserve a boost? At 35, despite picking up a conviction for theft and possession, and now working a minimum wage job, should the taxpayers have to fund a 2 bedroom apartment for you, pay for your groceries, pay for your healthcare?

[rolph]

Gattaca (1997) - IMDb

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177

[AaronAPU]

lol, you might change your mind when reparations end up going out to a very different set of people than you expected.

[BigTTYGothGF]

That's certainly a solution.

[consensus1]

Maybe colleges can just accept the best students and do their job of educating them instead of arrogantly appointing themselves as saviors and righters of all wrongs in the world.

[malfist]

Higher education is the most potent tool for breaking the cycle of poverty. Your plan would lock people into the cycle of poverty for generations.

Besides, how do you even define "best student". One that scores the highest on the SATs and has the highest high school grade? There's so much more to being a good learner than having the opportunity to get high grades and high test scores.

[consensus1]

It's the opposite. Gatekeeping employment on that stupid credential is the best way to keep people in poverty.

[WalterBright]

SAT scores are excellent predictors of success in college.

The triad top colleges look for:

1. SAT score

2. high school grades

3. evidence of being a self-motivated person

[readthenotes1]

In the USA, at least, "every student college bound" has led to colleges being simply more high school but at an enormous cost of creating indentured servents.

It will be very hard to to force colleges to downsize to the appropriate population count. Lots of prestige and money on the line

[consensus1]

It would actually be very easy. Just stop subsidizing them with student loans from the government.

[rolph]

the size of the cohort isnt the problem, its the enshrinement of catechisms that perpetuate a mentality of blue collar legacy.

[bossyTeacher]

> Maybe colleges can just accept the best students

If you want to see what a world where universities do that, check Europe in the 11th century. You might just like it

[alex43578]

And if you want to see a world where colleges accept everyone, without requiring a minimum qualification, look at our current system: over 50% of students lack proficient literacy skills.

It shouldn’t be controversial to recognize that some students are not capable of success in college.

[rolph]

do you mean intrinsically not capable, or systemicaly not capable.

[consensus1]

You actually think universities have anything to do with how Europe was in the 11th century?