jeremy lin scores! (um, this isn't about music...)

Jen's Times piece, which is actually a nuanced expression of changing and complex Chinese values, points out that in Taiwan, "there is an alternate track for college applications. Students can apply via the standard track, emphasizing grades and scores, but they can also apply via a track emphasizing their special gifts or contributions." It's worth appreciating the effects of Lin's week aside from his impressive stats line and his newly secure place on the Knicks roster. He's simply made the players around him work harder, commit more deeply to the team, and perform better. He realized the logic and promise of a scheme devised by a beleaguered coach, who was quite likely on the chopping block; he single-handedly made it work. He's jumpstarted the energy surrounding an underachieving team, benefiting the moods of many New Yorkers and the bottom lines of everyone from team and network executives down to ticket scalpers. All that from a guy who was passed over by scouts and coaches for what I'm sure looked like legitimate reasons based on a tightly construed, by-the-numbers system of evaluation geared solely toward narrow short-term outcomes. Best to think twice about such systems, which can never recognize true talent and desire and dedication. Once his team was struggling and beset by injuries, once he got the call from the bench, Lin highlighted precisely what education reformers need to keep in mind. That numbers tell only part of the story. That the only true predictor is opportunity.