Element 104: What's in a Name?

A new catalog of OHAUS equipment for Biology, chemistry, physics and general science. In addition to balances, laboratory weights and audio/visual aids. Bulletin 70 describes the new FORCE TABLES and MOMENTS APPARATUS to be introduced in Feb-ruary. Send for your free copy immediately. admissions process itself: Some colleges employ such high standa.rds of admissionls that eveni the poorcst per-fornmers do not 'deserve" low graades. (A mulch better solution to this problem , it seems to ImeC, x ouldC be for colleges to abandoni the use of locaLl, relative gracinlg schemes ainid to enmploy comparable. absolute standards of per-formalnce.) In short, rather than obviating the nieed for evaluation, the uIse of aIn open or lottery system in admissions shoUld create a nedcl for More elaborate andc improved mlethocis of miie.asuring the stLlident's perforlml-The suLrest \\say for colleges to avoid any responisibility for dcc(Itim,I the stLidenit is to employ selectivc admis-soiins: If onily the brightest stuLdenits are admiitted at one endt, thenl the high CIqLuality of the final product at the othCI enld iS Virttulaly guLaranteed. \Vhat halp-penls in betsw een the quality of the edLuCattionlal C;experielnce itself necd niot lbe of conic2ern slince the secondary schools aeC SUitaIbly impressed with the collegc's hieh admissions stanidardcIs, anid the eniployers and gradtIatc schools are sUitably imilpressed with the 'hihl qulality of the g-radCUate." My imilprcssioni is that professors suLppOr't SelCctix\C e I adisiSSiOnIS b)ecaLuS they feel that bright kids arc miore fuIll (and easier'?) to teach. AlImii, legislators , IfacUlty, adlministrators, and probalbly Imlaylly StudCeItS SuLppOIrt it be-CauLlSC having only bright stuidenits eni-hances the prestige of the institUtioll. Furthermore, the secondary schools SLIppOIrt the track systeimi that results from sclective admissions because they see it as a reward or incentive system for motivating their stLudenits: "StuLdy hard so you can get inito a 'good' college ." \Vhile cach of these argUImelIts may havc merit, none raclily has mu1ch to do with the e(lifc(itiolil' missioin of the college. If the principal funCtionll of the college is to educate, thenl the ad-iiiissionIs process ought to be designed to sort the students so as to miaximize theii eduicational developmient. Cur-reClntlvI, WC aIreC WOCfuIlly iggnorant as to how best to do this sorting. If nothing clsc, cven a partial lottery would permit us as scientists to explore the possible advantages of many student-environment combinations other than those thait reSUlt froiml CUrrenCllt seclective admissions policiles. A n1e')ic(ric Colunlcil …