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If we raised income taxes to 90% for the highest "earners," then the government could more equitably distribute these funds to a wider range of equally deservin

If we raised income taxes to 90% for the highest "earners," then the government could more equitably distribute these funds to a wider range of equally deserving universities. Neither Harvard nor MIT represent "the very crust of talent" either. DEI initiatives and legacy applicants make up a significant fraction of their admissions.

sokoloff 4y ago
MIT does not consider legacy in their admissions process.* My kids may be more likely to be admitted to MIT because I've spoken fondly about it, because we've done a lot of engineering projects growing up, because we've supported their STEM education, because we knew how to navigate standardized testing, etc. But it won't be because there's an "if (legacy_p) admit_chance++;" in their process. * - https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/just-to-be-clear-we-dont-do-legacy/ https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/just-to-be-clear-we-do...
- hackrnusr 4y ago
  I believe their policy statement on admissions as much as I believe former MIT president Susan Hockfield's reason for stepping down from her position in 2012. Also, don't forget that Susan Hockfield never referred her dean of admissions at MIT to the attorney general's office to face prosecution on wire fraud charges after it was discovered that she had fabricated a medical degree from a medical school that she had never attended on her resume.
  - sokoloff 4y ago
    Do you genuinely believe that they could have a legacy preference in admissions that everyone in the admissions process for all times is keeping a secret? You have a much higher degree of faith in the ability for humans to cooperate and never defect than I do.
    - hackrnusr 4y ago
      If you believe that the child of this donor https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/07/mit-gets-a-140m-anonymous-gift-with-a-lot-of-flexibility/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/07/mit-gets-a-140m-anonymous-... has the same chances of being accepted to MIT as yours or mine, regardless of test scores, then "I've got some property overlooking South Beach down on Martha's Vineyard that I'd like to sell you," as Alan Dershowitz recently told a news reporter :) Regarding your degree of faith in the ability of humans to cooperate without ever defecting, let me refer you to this aptly entitled book: https://www.amazon.com/SuperCooperators-Altruism-Evolution-Other-Succeed/dp/1451626630 https://www.amazon.com/SuperCooperators-Altruism-Evolution-O... How do you think Harvard and MIT helped Mr. Jeffrey Epstein evade prosecution on the child sex-trafficking charges for over thirty years? Type into your favorite search engine: "Martin Nowak Jeffrey Epstein Alan Dershowitz and the legal definition of a Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization" if you need a refresher. And quite frankly, I could care less who MIT or Harvard accepts these days. Admission to these schools has become nothing more than a modern-day equivalent of the 'beauty pageants' of yesteryear ... for all of the nerdy teenagers who don't look good enough in a bathing suit for Mr. Epstein apparently: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/fbi-wanted-arrest-epstein-virgin-islands-beauty-pageant-1-year-n1247788 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/fbi-want...

sokoloff 4y ago

MIT does not consider legacy in their admissions process.* My kids may be more likely to be admitted to MIT because I've spoken fondly about it, because we've done a lot of engineering projects growing up, because we've supported their STEM education, because we knew how to navigate standardized testing, etc. But it won't be because there's an "if (legacy_p) admit_chance++;" in their process. * - https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/just-to-be-clear-we-dont-do-legacy/ https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/just-to-be-clear-we-do...

hackrnusr 4y ago
I believe their policy statement on admissions as much as I believe former MIT president Susan Hockfield's reason for stepping down from her position in 2012. Also, don't forget that Susan Hockfield never referred her dean of admissions at MIT to the attorney general's office to face prosecution on wire fraud charges after it was discovered that she had fabricated a medical degree from a medical school that she had never attended on her resume.
- sokoloff 4y ago
  Do you genuinely believe that they could have a legacy preference in admissions that everyone in the admissions process for all times is keeping a secret? You have a much higher degree of faith in the ability for humans to cooperate and never defect than I do.
  - hackrnusr 4y ago
    If you believe that the child of this donor https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/07/mit-gets-a-140m-anonymous-gift-with-a-lot-of-flexibility/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/07/mit-gets-a-140m-anonymous-... has the same chances of being accepted to MIT as yours or mine, regardless of test scores, then "I've got some property overlooking South Beach down on Martha's Vineyard that I'd like to sell you," as Alan Dershowitz recently told a news reporter :) Regarding your degree of faith in the ability of humans to cooperate without ever defecting, let me refer you to this aptly entitled book: https://www.amazon.com/SuperCooperators-Altruism-Evolution-Other-Succeed/dp/1451626630 https://www.amazon.com/SuperCooperators-Altruism-Evolution-O... How do you think Harvard and MIT helped Mr. Jeffrey Epstein evade prosecution on the child sex-trafficking charges for over thirty years? Type into your favorite search engine: "Martin Nowak Jeffrey Epstein Alan Dershowitz and the legal definition of a Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization" if you need a refresher. And quite frankly, I could care less who MIT or Harvard accepts these days. Admission to these schools has become nothing more than a modern-day equivalent of the 'beauty pageants' of yesteryear ... for all of the nerdy teenagers who don't look good enough in a bathing suit for Mr. Epstein apparently: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/fbi-wanted-arrest-epstein-virgin-islands-beauty-pageant-1-year-n1247788 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/fbi-want...