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<p>Collecting more information or having better tests would help us identify people from disadvantaged backgrounds who are just as capable “innately” as the best Caltech kids. The real problem is that colleges – especially extremely difficult, elite colleges – are very limited in what they can do with students of great potential but inadequate preparation. </p>
<p>There is, quite simply, a vast amount of hardcore academic preparation required to succeed at Caltech. Not just potential, but also just book knowledge. At the very extreme bare minimum, to have a real chance of making it at Caltech, you need a good knowledge of calculus, at least a year of physics, a year of chemistry, good computer skills, along with a trained ability to absorb lots of technical knowledge rapidly. It is very hard to get any of this at a bad high school, and there is nothing Caltech can do about it while remaining Caltech. Many disadvantaged minority kids are as innately talented as the very best physics champion at Caltech, but what can we do, akdaddy, about the fact that they would need at least two years of extra training before they could start the Caltech core?</p>
<p>One solution to this is to seriously lower requirements for students once they get here. This has been the MIT path. The current MIT core requirements are, compared to Caltech’s, feather-like (they used to be comparable). You can, today, graduate from MIT without ever writing down a single mathematical proof and without ever taking more than a semester of physics (as opposed to Caltech’s universally required 5 trimesters of physics plus 5 of math – over three yearlong classes’ worth.) If a college does this, it becomes feasible to enroll substantial numbers of underprepared students (by the old standards). But it also dilutes the signal of the diploma and compromises the goal of having everybody uniformly educated to a high level.</p>
<p>Which is why Not quite old’s solution is the one where my heart is. Schools like Caltech should stay true to their high-powered selves and demand the same level of preparation and coursework they have always had. Alas, there are only tiny numbers of minority students who are currently qualified (not just potentially, but actually prepared) to do Caltech-level work. But that doesn’t mean Caltech should change its standards or its challenges. It means society must work harder so that more students of every color have access to these loftiest of goals. If instead we take the shortsighed way of lowering the bar to compensate for inequalities, we will abandon the most valuable thing we have to give to society – the memory of what is worth reaching for.</p>