From The Economist :
The best American universities wish to be ruthlessly discriminating on academic merit—and beacons for diversity on everything else. Trying to accomplish both at once can prompt mistakes. Lately Columbia University, an Ivy League member in New York, has been making a lot of them. Last year it admitted to submitting incorrect data to a college-rankings outfit in a bid to seem more exclusive than it really is. And on March 1st, in a bid to seem more inclusive than it is, Columbia said it would drop the requirement for applicants to submit standardised exam scores.
Campaigners claim that exams favour the privileged. Evidence for this is thin. Maths problems involve neutral things like numbers and algebra; reading-comprehension tests are rarely about silverware or yachting. The bias, however, is said to be latent. Because scores are correlated with race and parental income, the exams must therefore be contaminated with racism and classism .
This confuses disparity with discrimination. Tests correctly measure educational inequality, which begins before kindergarten and grows as a result of bad policy. Just as smashing thermometers does not prevent climate change, so abandoning the measurement of educational inequality will not magic it away.
In fact, for meritocrats to abandon exams is self-defeating. Scores may be correlated with privilege, but they are probably the hardest part of an admissions application to warp with money. Children of the rich can get ample help in completing their coursework (which may receive inflated grades), hire professional writers to “edit” their essays and even spend lavishly on consultants who will help craft a delectable smorgasbord of extra-curricular activities. Yet research shows that intensive tutoring has a marginal effect on test scores. That is why, in the Varsity Blues scandal of 2019, very rich parents paid to have others sit their children’s exams.
American universities are pursuing fairness the wrong way | The Economist
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neela1
March 13, 2023, 3:13pm
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There is more correlation between parental education and interest in children’s education with children’s educational outcomes than between parental wealth and children’s educational outcomes. Professors kids do very well. In fact education is supposed to be more heritable than plain wealth.
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Tagline: Drop legacy admissions—not standardised exams
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However, UK (and most other country) university admission exams are more subject matter tests. Would those here advocating for use of standardized exams prefer such things (analogous to discontinued SAT subject tests for ordinary level material and AP tests for advanced level material) to be used in the US over the SAT and ACT?
I believe those who argue against standardized exams disapprove subject matter tests even more strenuously. They’d argue that those tests are more correlated with test preparation and income.
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I saw this short doc over the weekend. I don’t agree with any of this but I suppose this represents the other side of the argument.
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But would you prefer more subject matter tests (like UK O- and A-levels, or something along the lines of SAT subject and AP tests), versus the current US situation with the SAT and ACT?
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I would, personally, but I also think SAT has some value that isn’t captured by the subject matter tests.
