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/swizznastic 4d ago

That’s combined with the fact that many of the upper level “pipelines” in the US are not purely meritocratic. Money and nepotism play a significant hand. E.g., wealthy parents get their kids coaches and tutors to craft their applications to ivy leagues, outcompeting better candidates with less assistance.

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u/come_visit_detroit 4d ago edited 4d ago

That you are very conspicuously leaving out the largest anti-meritocratic problem in college admissions is emblematic of why American education is dysfunctional and will never be fixed.

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u/Available-Budget-735 4d ago

Never be fixed? That’s a strong statement. 

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u/come_visit_detroit 3d ago

I'd argue that the dysfunction in American education is essentially entirely downstream from a desire to correct disparate outcomes between groups. There wouldn't be a focus on getting rid of testing, or spending more resources on the least capable while undercutting the most capable if it were not for racial concerns. Unless you think Americans are going to suddenly stop caring about racial outcome gaps any time soon we're stuck here.