I heard a fascinating story of the power of data the other day--my friend took a class at Stanford where the teacher was discussing his research on education and socioeconomic class. Apparently raw intelligence is best tested when a student is in 3rd grade. A group of students of all racial and socioeconomic backgrounds were given a standardized test (with no preparation) when they were in 3rd grade. Then they were tested again in 11th grade and students of high socioeconomic classes (also known as the ones who were able to afford tutoring) scored exponentially higher than the kids without tutoring despite the fact that many of them started out roughly at the same place when they were tested in third grade. I though this study was incredibly interesting and a case in point that our education system needs to change.
