Word: unfitting
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...their unwillingness to label anyone as intrinsically less worthy and their commitment to "being nice" indicate a sense of compassion. Some might see a contradiction, but I think there's a logic behind it. Merciless selection seems less objectionable if we insist that no one is intrinsically unfit. The losers are victims of circumstance, who, in principle at least, can be helped to succeed...
American higher education starkly reflects this unwillingness to seriously label anyone unfit. Costa Rica, my home country, is an extremely egalitarian society in which it is considered bad form to make anyone else look bad, or to try to make yourself look too good. But if you want to get into the University of Costa Rica your performance on a standardized admissions exam is the only factor determining your admission and your ability to enter the career of your choice. The idea that a university should employ a large number of admissions officers devoted to reading application essays and listening...
Much has been written lately about grade inflation in American colleges. I am uneasy addressing the topic, having benefited so abundantly from it. But there can be no doubt that this same unwillingness to label anyone as fundamentally unfit lies behind it. Intelligent students at the University of Costa Rica can hardly expect to go through college without failing a couple of courses, some of them two or three times in a row. A friend tells me of a math professor who gives no credit if a problem in a test has an incorrect answer. He then goes back...
...question remains whether it's a good policy for schools to identify certain students as unfit. Good arguments can be made both ways. There is no doubt that many bad students really are the victims of circumstance and that preserving their self-esteem may allow them to stay afloat. On the other hand, there is really no way to keep bad students from doing badly without lowering the standards and keeping the good students from developing their full potential. The record does not help much in settling the issue: The United States is the wealthiest country and its top universities...
...relatively small numbers, to regional hot spots that Washington wants to keep from becoming global conflagrations. So the Army's admission that the 10th Mountain Division and the First Infantry Division are not ready for war is surprising only until one learns why: their commanders secretly rated the units unfit for combat because up to half of their troops--less than 1% of the active-duty military--were busy tending to peacekeeping duties in Bosnia and Kosovo...