耶魯、哈佛法學院退出U.S. News排名

前幾年的風向是覺得標化考試不公平，所以SAT 等考試就在不斷進行改革，不管結果怎麽(me) 樣，至少能應對下輿論壓力；
這幾年風向是大學排行榜了，現在出來抵製榜單成了一件很“正確”的事情。

有兩(liang) 個(ge) 比較有意思的點：

第一，榜單對於(yu) 這些名校來說，影響本來也是不大的，

比如沒有人因為(wei) Columbia 的本科排名從(cong) 2 到18了，就不申請了。對於(yu) 榜單在乎的往往是一些非老牌名校，對於(yu) ta們(men) 來說，榜單是一個(ge) 推廣上比較高效的方式... the rankings are perhaps more meaningful to lower-ranked institutions, which often advertise them prominently and depend on them to attract students, than to schools in the top 10, or even top 30, whose reputation and brand recognition are well established.

所以對於(yu) Yale 和Harvard 來說，沒有什麽(me) 犧牲，一定程度上還賺到了一些大眾(zhong) 好感。畢竟學校在說自己退出理由的時候是慢慢的正義(yi) 淩然：

招生辦的措辭（個(ge) 人吐槽）：

1. 因為(wei) 這個(ge) 榜單，我們(men) 不能招更多的來自於(yu) 普通家庭的學生了（招生決(jue) 定都是你們(men) 招生辦定的，怎麽(me) 就怪榜單了呢？真心懇請Yale 這屆以後招普通家庭出生的可以多一些啊） In her letter, Ms. Gerken called the U.S. News rankings a “for-profit” and “commercial” enterprise that is “profoundly flawed.” She said the methodology does not give enough weight to programs like Yale’s “that support public interest careers, champion need-based aid, and welcome working-class students into the profession,” and as a result, skews the rankings of law schools that emphasize that work.

2. 榜單太在乎分數了，對於(yu) 不能考試培訓的同學不公平（法學院招生裏活動，本科院校，實習(xi) ，工作什麽(me) 的，對於(yu) 學生更不公平啊，普通家庭孩子是參加考試考個(ge) 高分的難度大，還是有個(ge) 機會(hui) 去頂級律所實習(xi) ，給總統競選助力的難度大啊？） She said that 20 percent of a law school’s overall ranking comes from grades and test scores. “This heavily weighted metric imposes tremendous pressure on schools to overlook promising students, especially those who cannot afford expensive test preparation courses,” she said in her letter. “It also pushes schools to use financial aid to recruit high-scoring students.”

3. 榜單裏畢業(ye) 生就業(ye) 的指標讓學生畢業(ye) 就隻想找工作掙錢啊（說句實話，反對這個(ge) 指標就有點自己打自己臉了，高概率來說，需要畢業(ye) 馬上就業(ye) 的應該是普通家庭出身的學生吧，這個(ge) 指標高才能說明學校招生的普通家庭的孩子多啊，所以這個(ge) 指標學校應該好好努力做下啊。） Moreover, she said, the rankings were misleading in the way they portrayed the employment rate of Yale law students after graduation, an important metric for students who are acutely conscious that they have to start making money to pay off often exorbitant student loans.

第二，對於(yu) 名校來說宣布退出，很不代表榜單上就不見這所學校了。

一個(ge) 最近的例子就是Columbia 本科排名：學校前麵剛宣布退出US News 本科排名榜單，過幾天公布的最新一年的榜單了還是有Columbia Over the summer, Columbia announced that it would no longer participate in the rankings of national universities... U.S. News kept Columbia in the rankings nonetheless but dropped it to No. 18.

關(guan) 於(yu) Yale 會(hui) 不會(hui) 在列以後的榜單，US News 也沒有給出明確的回答。

Asked whether U.S. News would continue to rank Yale, Eric Gertler, chief executive of U.S. News, said that the organization was reviewing options.

而 US News 如果要收集排名相關(guan) 的數據還是很容易的，畢竟大多數排名的參數都是公開的數據。

...even though U.S. News asks schools to provide their own data, much of the information is publicly available.

兩(liang) 所法學院在美東(dong) 的周三宣布這個(ge) 消息後，我們(men) 看下其他幾個(ge) 前十院校的態度（Yale法學院排名第一；Harvard 和Columbia 並列第四）排名第二的Stanford 法學院的態度：你們(men) 真棒，我們(men) 內(nei) 部再討論下。

“Dean Gerken has made some very salient points, and like many, we have long been concerned about the U.S. News law school rankings methodology and will be giving this careful thought,” said Stephanie Ashe, a spokeswoman for No. 2-ranked Stanford Law.

第三的Chicago 和 第四的Columbia 不想說話。

Representatives from No. 3-ranked University of Chicago Law School and Columbia Law School, which tied with Harvard at No. 4, declined to comment on whether they might pull out of the rankings.

第六的賓大表示兩(liang) 所學校很有大哥範，我們(men) 再評估評估。

The University of Pennsylvania law school applauded Yale and Harvard “for their leadership” and said that it was “evaluating this issue,” but it did not immediately offer to join in.

第七的NYU: 熱鬧是ta們(men) 的。

New York University officials said they were aware of the action by Harvard and Yale, but “we haven’t made any determination on the matter yet.”

排名15的UCLA 法學院比較實在：我們(men) 隻有同一梯隊的學校退出排名的時候才會(hui) 考慮，他們(men) 這些精英學校的熱鬧，我們(men) 參與(yu) 不起的。
Mr. Korobkin said that because UCLA competes so hard against a handful of other schools that are elite but not in the top tier like Yale and Harvard, “we can’t afford to unilaterally in our part of the market opt out.” However, he said, “I would suspect that we would be very seriously considering it if other schools in our band were to drop out.”

總結

不管是考試還是排行榜，都不是高等教育的核心。如果高等教育真的如學校宣傳(chuan) 的那樣要去推動教育公平和每個(ge) 個(ge) 體(ti) 進步的話，光怪這些體(ti) 製外的因素意思不大，本身學校的錄取是一個(ge) 很大的問題。比如，至少可以先把錄取過程透明起來...