N.Y. Preschool Starts DNA Testing For Admission

[Ichingcarpenter]

Gattaca is here...... if you saw the movie where
A genetically inferior man assumes the identity of a superior one in order to pursue his lifelong dream of............





At the Porsafillo Preschool Academy, all applicants must now submit a DNA analysis of their children.

The preschool is housed in a modern glass and steel building designed by IM Pei. It's situated in a leafy corner of the Upper West Side. On a recent afternoon, Headmaster Rebecca Unsinn showed off "Porsafillo Pre," as it's called.

"Over here, we have computer labs, C++ learning, which of course, as I'm sure you know, is a language of computers," she says. Wait, computer language? These preschoolers are learning C++?

"Oh, absolutely they are," Unsinn says. "And they're very good at it."

That's not the only language they're learning; all the children are also enrolled in a Mandarin Chinese immersion program.

More than 12,000 applications pour into Unsinn's office each fall. That's 12,000 hopefuls for just 32 spots a year. It makes Porsafillo Pre the most competitive preschool in the United States.

So in a bid to weed out the kids who have no chance, the school decided to require a DNA test for all applicants. Before she joined the school in 2009, Unsinn was a child neurologist. She was hired specifically to implement this new policy.

Her team is looking for genetic markers that indicate future excellence — things like intelligence, confidence and other leadership traits.


http://www.npr.org/2012/04/01/149804404/n-y-preschool-starts-dna-testing-for-admission

[IndyJones]

1. Creepy. Is it legal?

[Skittles]

2. sickening

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. There should be a DU warning on April 2nd: Have you checked the date of the story you're posting?

Might it possibly have first been published on April 1st? Might a key phrase in the story (author, or name like 'Porsafillo') be an anagram of 'April Fool(s)'?

The Porsafillo Academy will begin to accept applications under their new DNA policy today, April 1.

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...

[customerserviceguy]

8. The only problem is

Today's parody becomes tomorrow's reality all too often.

[teach1st]

4. It has to be an April Fool's Joke

A quick search for the academy shows nothing but the article. Read the comments on the NPR page.

[Prometheus Bound]

5. The principal calls a child an 'it''

"This is a clinical test that can show us how a child will perform throughout its life."

What a brave new world we live in!

[Dorian Gray]

6. Oh for Christ's sake

This is the one thing I hate about living in NYC. (Even Brooklyn, where I live.) The school insanity. I have a year and a half year old child, and people are already asking me about what we're going to do for schools. It's so crazy here. And this article is even crazier.


ETA: Okay, this is probably an April Fool's Joke. But what I wrote above is true, which is why I believed the story in the first place. LOL

[Zalatix]

7. And people say Social Darwinism isn't on the march

[LLP]

9. Get a grip people!

Porsafillo is an anagram of "April Fools"
Unsinn (the administrator's name) is German for "nonsense"
The policy was scheduled to go into effect on April 1.

[Ichingcarpenter]

10. APRIL FOOLS FOLKS.. APRIL FOOLS

sorry.... I posted it late .