I can’t answer the whys, but schoolhouse does have partnerships with 30 or so colleges that already accept the certifications that a student/tutor can earn thru schoolhouse. These certifications demonstrate subject mastery.
Through the College Pioneers Program, Schoolhouse.world partners with colleges to recognize Schoolhouse.world certifications and tutoring directly within the college applications process. As colleges look for more data points, we’re exploring alternative ways to demonstrate mastery and service, and we’re excited to expand to more universities.
I don’t know this with certainty, but expect any of the college partners would accept/will ultimately accept the dialogues evaluation/portfolio (even though only the schools mentioned in the various articles posted here have publicly stated that.)
Agree - this is the part that seems strange. The creation of a “portfolio” that’s used in college apps takes what should be a good idea and makes it performative, imo. The SAT tutoring (which my D26 did) makes more sense to me because at best you can capture some hours to put on your activity list, but it was also a good way for my kid to learn how to tutor, which is something she actually wanted to do.
I think I agree with you all. But maybe here is his idea: Our generation - like every generation - needs to learn how to have civilized debate on hard topics. And kids surely aren’t seeing role-modeling for this in any of our public arenas. In this forum, with the “scores” people are highly incentivized to be civil and constructive. And kids love “points.” Especially kids who are applying to college. Especially kids with maybe (ahem) meh ECs. And if they can’t learn civil discourse from adults, maybe kids will have civilized discussion to earn points and find - lo and behold! - that it’s a really interesting, fun, way more useful form of debate. As opposed to “You’re evil.” “I know you are but what am I?”
In this way - the Dialogues idea does fit into his grass roots, peer-led, “OK - maybe it will only make a small difference but anything is better than nothing” model. That’s how Khan Academy started. Then schoolhouse.world tutoring. Maybe now Dialogues. I’ll trust him to give it a try. The man is a genius and he understands young people in ways that very few people do.
That said peer scoring does feels icky, and “performative” is just the right word for it. I guess it’s sort of the carrot that will induce kids to talk and listen to each other. I’m not doing it. But I see what he’s aiming for. Wish our generation could just get this training from watching reasonable adult debates though …
Well said! Of course, I can’t help but think it’s another hoop for these kids to feel like they have to jump through. I don’t know why colleges can’t get their finger on the pulse of student demeanor and civility without going to these lengths. Shouldn’t discussions like this be happening in class? I would have thought (hoped) that teacher recs could have addressed this kind of thing.
Realistically - I think teachers are hard-pressed to tackle any sort of controversial topic in class without worrying about parents complaining and administrators scolding/punishing/dismissing them. And that’s a reflection of how far gone we are on knowing what civil discourse is.
First, I agree that private universities can bring in whatever measure they like to determine who they want to admit. And frankly, private universities favor the wealthy, especially the schools named here. A URM from a well off family, by and large, will still have an advantage over others, and I don’t see that changing.
But this is a terrible, misguided idea. Of course it’s going to favor extroverted, ambitious, wealthy overachievers who have the resources and time to engage in yet another activity. There will absolutely be coaches, if there aren’t already. IMO, the peer opinions will tank some students’ chances and favor the types I have already mentioned. Only students with glowing peer write ups and high scores in most categories are going to bother to submit a portfolio. Heaven forbid some kid stumbles over their words, or maybe just really enjoys hearing other viewpoints and doesn’t necessarily want to engage extensively.
Yes, “performative” is a good word for this. Icky is an even better word.
As if the already advantaged need even more advantages.
The greater fear is the resultant “sameness” of the beneficiaries, an inevitable outcome of the biases discussed earlier. Bad for society if the majority of future graduates are all rich kids who talk and act alike.
