I am a math professor who has taught several data science courses. IMHO, having students on different tracks depending on ability and interest is just fine so long as reasoning skills are duly emphasized in each of the courses in a given track. In the game of life, I don't necessarily need you to tell me what the antiderivative of a given function is, but I do need you, as the rest of society does, to be able to smell a rat when you're being told that a given data set is telling you X but the accompanying explanation, if one is given, can't withstand scrutiny. You don't have to be a math whiz to do the latter, just someone who can both use the knowledge imparted to them and demonstrate the courage to call BS whenever you're being lied to.
'Merit' is just more 'color-blind' liberalism.
What matters is identifying, cultivating and deploying talent(s).
That's what the 'university system' should be about, instead of 'credentialing the credentialable'.
A 'talent' system would have value for *everyone* not just the technocracy.
I am a math professor who has taught several data science courses. IMHO, having students on different tracks depending on ability and interest is just fine so long as reasoning skills are duly emphasized in each of the courses in a given track. In the game of life, I don't necessarily need you to tell me what the antiderivative of a given function is, but I do need you, as the rest of society does, to be able to smell a rat when you're being told that a given data set is telling you X but the accompanying explanation, if one is given, can't withstand scrutiny. You don't have to be a math whiz to do the latter, just someone who can both use the knowledge imparted to them and demonstrate the courage to call BS whenever you're being lied to.
Evidently, based on data, you didn't really play all of the available cards at your disposal in order to gain entry at some prestigious university
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