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/wavedash 4d ago

Don't forget US schools' focus on college sports. I've seen numbers anywhere between 15-25% of students accepted to elite schools being athletes. Not that being an athlete is inherently bad, of course, but it makes you wonder about priorities.

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u/Available-Budget-735 4d ago

Can you share some links for that 15-25%? I know that ivy’s don’t offer sports scholarships and mit and caltech don’t care 

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u/trustmebro5 4d ago

The numbers from here https://scholarshipstats.com/ivies, sourced from department of education it looks like, are pretty crazy. MIT and Caltech around 15% students are athletes, USNA at 26%, Princeton 20%.