So I’m Australian, and here in Australia we have schools for gifted children, where admissions are based purely on standardised test results. Near the end of primary school you go to a special place to take a test, and the test is designed to measure logical thinking and mental flexibility rather than academic experience. And if you score highly, you go to a special school with smart students of all different backgrounds.
And I liked Spider-Man Homecoming in large part because Peter Parker goes to a “magnet school”, which I’m told is the American equivalent. And it doesn’t have any dumb jock types; the school bully is a little Indian brat with rich parents. It felt like a more modern take on high school tropes than all the high school movies where nerds wear bow ties that feel like the writer grew up in the 50s.
Anyway, half of My polycule says that magnet schools are all fake and only serve the rich. There’s no way a low income white boy from queens could make it into a gifted school in our world, based purely on academic achievement. I’m aware that the American system is less fair and money plays a much bigger role, but I thought there was at least a chance that a genius kid could beat the system and get into a good school with good grades.
Do magnet schools exist? Is it all just lies by the rich?
The only way you get into a specialized public high school in New York City is by passing a standardized test. You can’t buy your way in. “The merit track” is the only track.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specialized_High_Schools_Admissions_Test
Ah the internet. Where people will say some common knowledge, then someone else will come by and challenge that knowledge, thus pointing out that the common knowledge is actually wrong. So now I’m left to wonder “Wait, where did I even hear that from to begin with?”
And the answer is probably some guy on the internet. Just a statement that presents no reason to challenge it, so it becomes accepted as fact for decades. Until one night at 3am, you realize you can’t actually defend how you know it’s right, and maybe this other guy saying it’s wrong is right.
This is my life now. Random strangers fight on the internet, as I question reality.
I think of it like this: common knowledge is representative of the knowledge of the average voter. Then look at the average voter anyhere. Thats pretty good motivation for me at least to always find out for myself.
Spoiler: usually both the strangers on the internet are wrong.