High School Selection?
Having grown up in New England, the high school selection process is somewhat fresh in my memory. Much like the college selection process, there is an enormous amount of pressure put on young teenagers to be accepted into a small amount of highly selective school. Students are forced to push themselves both mentally and physically, and from a young age parents enroll their students in various extracurricular activities in order to differentiate their sons and daughter from the inundated school system. Although this process was an insightful learning experience for myself, many young children are forced to accept the harsh reality that they are simply under-qualified at a young age. Luckily, Professor Parag Pathak has developed game theory called the “deferred-acceptance algorithm,” which would help take some of the guess work involved with the placement system.
In the old systems, families were forced to think strategically when choosing their high school selections. In order to increase their chances of being accepted to a high school, families would have to consider the decision being made other families and base their choices off predictions of the other player’s actions. With the “deferred-acceptance algorithm,” the school system is able to monitor the choices being made by the families, and then analyze the various factors which make certain schools more desirable then others. This information will allow the school system to improve the less desirable schools, while providing higher quality choices for families. The “deferred-acceptance algorithm” also takes much of the strategy out of the selection process. It gives students and families an opportunity to make an informed decision based off the merits of the schools, rather than rumors and preconceived notions. This system also achieves a high level of social welfare by placing as many people as possible into their respective choices. Overall, this system will hopefully be beneficial for all parties involved and will help to ease the already difficult high school experience.
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/profile-pathak-0501.html