re: Senate approves TOPS changes

I'm talking about the kids who actually lose their TOPS because of performance not the current legislation.

I'll take a 4.0 and a low ACT over a high ACT and low GPA if handing out scholarships. High GPA kid is going to work harder than the lazy smart kid. I was the lazy smart kid. Wife scored a 21 on ACT. She has much more education than I do.

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I'll take a 4.0 and a low ACT over a high ACT and low GPA if handing out scholarships. High GPA kid is going to work harder than the lazy smart kid. I was the lazy smart kid. Wife scored a 21 on ACT. She has much more education than I do.

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I've got no problem with that, but let's not kid ourselves about ACT scores and intelligence. You're wife worked hard and may have developed in college, but when she took the ACT she was just of average intelligence.

I was barely inside the top 20% of my class, although I still had a 3.7ish GPA. I scored the highest ACT score in our class though with a 33. I've got no problem admitting I was as lazy as you'll find in high school, and it didn't get much better in college, but I finished in 4 years with a 3.6. Never really worked hard until I had my first child.

I respect the hell out of people who bust their arse and did more with less so to speak. That is far more impressive than my test scores, but that doesn't mean they're more intelligent.

so Louisiana's big plan is everyone gets something? So basically it doesn't matter if you get a 20 or a 36. The good students worked hard for nothing. Everything is shared equally. This is communism at its finest. Way to promote mediocrity. Shouldn't be surprised, it is Louisiana we are talking about.

No one should be debating high GPAs. These days high schools are basically giving away diplomas. High school GPA means nothing

On another note. This will solve nothing. They can only support a 1/3 of the needed 300 million. You have 50,000 students, you are looking at about 2000 per year divided equally. 1000 per semester.Which is about 1/5 of LSUs tuition(12 hours) per semester. Who will foot the other $4000 per semester?

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But to say someone is not that smart when scoring under a 24 on the ACT is a bit harsh. I guess they just give away electrical engineering degrees at LSU. 

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Well what did you score on the math section? It isn't the end all, be all, but someone who scores a 21 is not a bad test taker, they're just of average intelligence with respect to general topics like math, grammar and reading, and science.

This isn't some new revelation, but many people try to gloss over mediocre scores when they have/had nice GPAs. All that studying and hard work for quizzes and homework wasn't that effective if you cannot retain the information.

You can still be a wonderfully successful person down the road despite a sub 70 percentile score, but it doesn't change the fact that when you took the ACT you were of average or slightly above average intelligence. (I'm not saying you specifically, just giving an example)

This is going to really hurt AA's from getting TOPS

To those saying "pay it back" ought to be done if TOPS is lost, I used to feel that way but it'd cost way more money I'd assume to recoup the money.

What in my mind makes TONS of sense is to make this a "loan" program. Student/parent pays, student makes the required grades, student/parent gets reimbursed. It's not that complicated.

I still don't know what an acceptable cutoff should be though. My oldest had a 27, 2nd son has a 29 and 3rd child yet to take it.