Does "merit" live primarily in Mumbai/Delhi/Hyderabad areas?


Punjab boy tops IIT JEE; city student tops among girls
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1100009

"Among the number of qualified candidates, Mumbai zone topped the list
with 2,235 students while Delhi zone was second in number with 1398
candidates, Prof Pandalai, chairman IIT-JEE-2007 and Prof JM Vasi
Deputy director, IIT Mumbai said on Wednesday.

The total number of students who appeared for the JEE this year was
2,43,029 of which 7,209 are eligible to seek admission to 5,537 seats
in IITs at Mumbai, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Chennai and
Roorkee, IT-BHU Varanasi and ISMU, Dhanbad, they said..."


--So 2,235 out of 7209 successful students were from Mumbai area.
(Unless a third of the applicants were from Mumbai too, which would
then raise the question as to why other students don't even apply.)

Clearly, the tests can be hacked, by expensive coaching.

I feel sorry for those multitudinous simpletons who prepare for the
JEE by themselves. They are coming to a gunfight armed with knives. Of
course, those with guns believe that the fight is fair and that they
win because they are "meritorious".

==

Expectations Affect Women's Math Scores
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2006/10/20/womenmath_hum.html?category=human&guid=20061020153000

"Oct. 20, 2006 - Telling women they can't do well in math may turn out
be a self-fulfilling statement. In tests in Canada, women who were
told that men and women do math equally well did much better than
those who were told there is a genetic difference in math ability...."


Forget the stereotype, pass the test
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/entertainment/forget-stereotypes-pass-the-test/2007/05/28/1180205116120.html

"Psychologists have long known that stereotypes about intelligence can
be self-fulfilling, leading women, minorities and even non-Asian maths
students to perform poorly if others expect it of them...."



--Clearly, expectations produce enhancement in performance. Which
makes a good case for reservations for those sections of population
which, while being numerically huge, are "expected" to do less well by
social systems poisoned by putrid casteist discourses on the body
parts of Brahma.


Adi Anant

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