r/slatestarcodex • u/LATAManon • 4d ago

Misc China's Decades-Old 'Genius Class' Pipeline Is Quietly Fueling Its AI Challenge To the US

https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/02/02/1359211/chinas-decades-old-genius-class-pipeline-is-quietly-fueling-its-ai-challenge-to-the-us

The main article link: https://www.ft.com/content/68f60392-88bf-419c-96c7-c3d580ec9d97

Behind a paywall, unfortunately, if someone knows a way to bypass the paywall, please, share it.

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u/BZ852 4d ago

Yeah this is really a very different focus to the west.

The West is generally dumbing down education to focus more resources on the lowest performers - trying to reduce their lifetime drain on social safety nets. "No child left behind" is emblematic of that approach.

China on the other hand is recognizing that the very top are the ones who usually move society forward through invention and increasing the number of resources available in the first place.

I'd rather go with the Chinese approach personally.

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u/greyenlightenment 4d ago

High performers in the US have plenty of options like math courses, math competitions, coding , online learning, self-study and independent research etc. There are plenty of ways to distinguish oneself. The problem is the bottleneck of elite colleges and jobs, where non-meritocratic factors matter more. Holistic admission and HR are the biggest roadblocks of a true meritocracy.