2.3 KiB
Placement Test by Keith Laumer
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Author: u/blazinghand Chaos Undivided*
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URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/3hy2n4/placement_test_by_keith_laumer/
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Score: 6
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Created: 2015-08-22T07:15:47
Post:
Keith Laumer published Placement Test in Future Imperfect. I was reminded of it by the story Profession by Asimov posted in this subreddit.
It can be read on the web here.
Comments:
u/BoilingLeadBath [+5] (5 hours later)
While I'm sure the author's point was something else, it seems like the institution in the story could reap large improvements in efficiency with small changes in their bureaucratic process, especially given the existence of what is implied to be an effective post-graduation grading test.
As the lowest-hanging fruit, assuming the current temporal distribution of quota-related expulsions is uniform, there's a... 6% improvement, at no cost, from moving quota-related expulsions to semester breaks?
u/fljared [+2] United Federation of Planets (18 hours later)
If quota expulsions are real. It's possible that they're only for students in the executive track.
Also, if quotas are set, it's possible that they're filled in other semesters too.
u/ArgentStonecutter [+1] Emergency Mustelid Hologram (2 days later)
While I'm sure the author's point was something else, it seems like the institution in the story could reap large improvements in efficiency with small changes in their bureaucratic process, especially given the existence of what is implied to be an effective post-graduation grading test.
I remember reading this years ago and thinking this was a straw dystopia in the first place, and wondering why Laumer was being so blatantly unsubtle.
u/eaglejarl [+3] (a day later)
Hah! Thank you for posting this. When the Asimov story went up it reminded me of this other story that I couldn't quite remember...and here it is!
u/blazinghand [+2] Chaos Undivided (a day later)
I actually had a similar experience about a year ago: http://www.reddit.com/r/tipofmytongue/comments/2bblnn/tomtshort_story_welcome_to_the_club_scifi/