ZOMG! Have the brainiacs followed the yellowoke path to diversity, equity, and inclusion mediocrity?

Caltech drops calculus, chemistry, physics class requirements if your school doesn't offer them, allowing you to take Khan Academy instead.

Doesn't seem that crazy. Until you notice they also got rid of the SAT, so it's all about diversity over merit. https://t.co/NcCtGXSC2u

— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) August 31, 2023

Ehhhh…not quite yet. Jury’s out.

What they’re planning sounds like a reasonable work-around for particularly gifted, but educationally deprived students who aspire to greater things. The young lady the reporter begins the story with went to a school that didn’t offer algebra in 8th grade. But she busted her butt, and was able to double up in her sophomore year to catch up to calculus by her senior.

That chance isn’t there for every student who might want to take a shot at attending an institution with stringent entrance requirements like Caltech. These changes are meant to level that playing field.

…And scores of students don’t even have that chance, because more than one-third of the nation’s high schools don’t offer calculus, and many also lack physics and chemistry classes, two other Caltech admission requirements. For years, the institute, a global powerhouse of science, technology, engineering and math education, fielded hundreds of calls each year from distraught students and parents about the issue. But Caltech held firm, making no exceptions, even for “absolutely astounding” applicants, as one faculty member put it.

Now Caltech, in the name of equity, is shifting gears. In a groundbreaking step, the campus announced Thursday that it will drop admission requirements for calculus, physics and chemistry courses for students who don’t have access to them and offer alternative paths to prove mastery of the material.

But not having it available in high school isn’t a free pass – a student still has to take course and pass a subject certification exam, or Caltech will also accept a score of 5 on AP exams and a score of 6 or 7 on International Baccalaureate exams So this new program isn’t a gimme, per se. The ability has to be proven prior to being accepted.

…One of Caltech’s alternative paths is taking Khan Academy‘s free, online classes and scoring 90% or higher on a certification test. Sal Khan, academy founder, said Caltech’s action is a “huge deal” for equitable access to college. While Caltech is small — only 2,400 students, about 40% of them undergraduates — Khan said he hoped its prestigious reputation would encourage other institutions to examine their admission barriers and find creative solutions to ease them.

…“You have one of the most academically rigorous schools on the planet that has arguably one of the highest bars for admission, saying that an alternative pathway that is free and accessible to anyone is now a means to meeting their requirements,” said Khan, whose nonprofit offers free courses, test prep and tutoring to more than 152 million users.

I do like the way they went about developing the program. It’s funny when a light goes on for 800lb brain academics. Like, “You mean there are high schools where they don’t teach calculus?” They are so insulated sometimes.

…The impetus for the policy change began in February, when Pallie, the admissions director, and two Caltech colleagues attended a workshop on equity hosted by the National Assn. for College Admission Counseling. They were particularly struck by one speaker, Melodie Baker of Just Equations, a nonprofit that seeks to widen math opportunities. As Baker pointed out the lack of access to calculus for many students, Pallie and her team began to question Caltech’s admission requirement for the course, along with physics and chemistry.

Pallie and Jared Leadbetter, a professor of environmental microbiology who heads the faculty admissions committee, began to look into potential course alternatives. Pallie connected with Khan’s team, which started a second nonprofit, Schoolhouse.world, during the pandemic in 2020 to offer free tutoring. Peer tutors on the platform certify they are qualified for their jobs by scoring at least 90% on the course exam and videotaping themselves explaining how they solved each problem on it. The video helps ensure that the students actually took the exam themselves and understand the material.

That video feature gave Caltech assurances about the integrity of the alternative path.

They had undergrads take the Khan Academy courses, too, to check out the actual academic rigor and got approval from those kids. With the undergrads recommending additional materials to augment the course, because, well, you’re going to Caltech.

Understandably, there were some qualms expressed, but the overall feeling is positive.

…Leadbetter said some faculty voiced caution about the new path, but a majority of governing board members approved the change without objection. “If we’re really trying to beat the bushes for these really rare students with this exceptional sort of tenacity and resilience and promise, then we really don’t want to be missing large segments” of potential applicants, he said.

Yeah – I guess when you only have a 3% admission rate, I would guess you’d want a wider pool of candidates if you could possibly find a way to broaden it but without compromising your standards?

That remains to be seen, and the verbiage is worrying from the team, as it is chockful of those buzzwords.

…”educational desert”…

…Pallie said the new policy will give meaning to a key part of Caltech’s mission statement on equity: “While talent is distributed broadly, opportunity is not.”…

…“I think that we’re really in a time where institutions have to decide if everything that they’ve been saying about diversity and equity and inclusion is true,” …

*shiver*

The tell will be if they do away with the first year requirements which everyone must take. I mean, it’s no cakewalk.

I sure hope not. They’re a pretty intense bunch of eggheads who do cool things.

I’d hate to see that watered down by racist #mathz driven mediocrity and all the rest of living with everyday woke drivel.