Posted on 03/28/2022 6:24:14 PM PDT by blam
Chalk another one up for progressives never letting a good crisis go to waste. They have been using the COVID-19 crisis to implement a host of progressive dream programs, including government handouts, eviction protections, enhanced unemployment benefits, universal mask and vaccine mandates, and trillion dollar government spending packages.
A far more insidious, yet lesser known, COVID-19 era invention is the end of standardized tests like the SAT and ACT for admission into college. About 80 percent of universities in the United States eliminated the requirement during the pandemic.
Here is a typical statement: “The California State University understands the challenges that students are facing due to COVID-19. In response, the CSU has temporarily suspended the SAT or ACT test requirements only for students applying for admission in fall 2022 as freshman.”
But, surprise, what starts as temporary, suddenly becomes permanent. CSU, the largest public university system in the country, just made the change permanent, joining the more prestigious University of California system that made a similar announcement last year.
It is not hard to figure out what is behind this: “equity.” In November 2020, California’s radical left failed in their effort to lift the state’s ban on affirmative action in admissions to state schools and in state employment. The ban was first put in place through a vote of Californians in 1996. The effort to overturn it was rejected and by a wider margin (16 points). In defeating affirmative action twice, Californians have been clear: They oppose race or ethnicity playing a role in the admission of students to college.
But the California left does not let the will of the people, or the state Constitution, get in the way of implementing their radical agenda. They simply change the name from affirmative action to equity and keep right on going. Equity, as people are now learning, is not about treating people equally, but rather treating them unequally in order to achieve an equal outcome based on race or ethnicity or whatever other category the left decides needs its help.
The biggest impediment to implementing equity is a standardized test, so they got rid of it. And they are not trying to hide what they are doing. Acting CSU Chancellor Steve Relyea said the move “aligns with the California State University’s continued efforts to level the playing field and provide greater access to a high-quality college degree for students from all backgrounds.” He also said the test was too “high-stress.”
Robert Keith Collins, chair of CSU’s Academic Senate, said, “We all realized that in many cases, the disparities in terms of access outweigh the benefits of the SAT and ACT.”
So, while recognizing that the tests benefit the admissions process, he says they must be tossed out because they create disparities based upon race. He acknowledges that students will now be admitted who are not college-ready, but that professors “welcome the challenge of bringing new students up to college-level readiness.” Up to? The whole point of the admissions process is supposed to be to assure that incoming students are at that level!
The move totally ignores the individual. The fact is African Americans (only 5.8 percent of California’s population), are far more likely to have been raised in a single parent home. As then-Senator Barack Obama noted, children who grow up without a father are nine times more likely to drop out of school. Latinos (39 percent of California’s population) are far more likely to have been raised by recent, legal or illegal, immigrants with less education and English as their second language.
But they do not care about the individual and why some are not able to attain a high level of achievement. Their only concern is that the numbers wind up equal in the end. The ACT’s statement in response to the decision gets it right: “Solving the prevailing, systemic education inequities that exist in this country requires attention and focus on root causes, rather than dismissing the tools that substantially improve our understanding of them.”
Because the University of California policy was implemented last year, we can already see its effects. I have friends with children at two very prestigious, and very expensive, private high schools. They borrowed and strained to get their children the best possible education, which in turn, they thought, would get them the best possible collegiate education. Children from these schools score very high on standardized tests because of the strenuous curriculum and their parents’ emphasis on education.
However, without a standardized test, a 3.5 grade point average at one of these schools is viewed the same as a 3.5 grade point average at a far less rigorous school. The admittance rate into the prestigious University of California campuses ends up being about the same from each high school, regardless of the quality of the students. According to one tweet on the subject, Brentwood High School, one of the most prestigious in Los Angeles, “is in chaos after almost zero white seniors got into UC schools.”
The message for parents? Do not bother spending the effort or money to have your kids go to the best school possible. The result for our country? Its inevitable decline due to the end of meritocracy and excellence.
CSU to cut their tuition in half?
Garbage in, garbage out.
Oh well, there’s the media, education, and politics for those types.
And so it goes. And goes.
I hate to say it, but I’m glad I do not have grandchildren. My kids are/were dearly loved and did fine in life. But the possible grands? Brings me to tears.
Free schooling, CSU
paying that much for crap is very stressful
*shrug* simply means that more idiots not ready for college will get in and rack up debt and drop out.
Liberals are not doing any of these kids any favors by this.
SATs are IQ tests. A simple ploy to make it harder for whites, Asians and Indians.
Well, attending class and having to listen to lectures and having to study, are all stressful.
Why not just hand the students their degrees and be done with it. Nobody that hires those students will ever know the difference.
Tuition in the mid 70’s was $100 a semester. Then came prop 13 afterwards. I didn’t care.
NOTE: no CSU hires.
Poor babies. Life is full of stress, get used to it. Or stay in Daddy’s basement sucking your thumb.
MIT is bringing it back. I wonder which school is considered “better?”
MIT just did the opposite. Seems that they figured out that admitting minorities only to get points with feds and fill-out pictures in their recruiting brochures isn’t worth ruining the lives of those same minorities when they flunk out...particularly given that they’re far from idiots and would have done fine in second tier schools.
ok, everybody, do not hire CSU graduates
Exactly. But they came out so dumb and brainwashed before they stopped the SAT, etc. so they shouldn’t have been hired anyway.
Do they have mid-terms and finals anymore?
Those can be much more stressful than an SAT.
I graduated from CSULB when it was a “decent” college.
Of course, one of my professors there was Ron Karenga (inventor of Kwanzaa) and another was Clifton Snider (another class act).
I have two granddaughters.
8 and 10.
I could hardly believe just how bad school has become.
I taught my 10 year old granddaughter her vowels.
Could hardly believe she was not taught before 5th grade.
Sad really.
I've been doing software engineering since 1983 over a variety of systems. Multiple operating systems, 50 languages, multiple disciplines including device drivers, data communications, databases, user interfaces, complex scientific calculations and digital signal processing. When selected to perform remediation of some security software for the Army Corps of Engineers, I needed to bring a government approved "8570" series cert to be granted admin access on the network. I studied for the TIA Security+ exam and passed it ($349 out of pocket for the exam). It's good for 3 years. I need to do some continuing education or it will expire in April 2023.
I just passed 30 years with my current company and age 65. If I planned to stay significantly longer, a CISSP and/or CEH would be on my "to do". As it stands, I'll probably just do the CySA+ and PenTest+ to enhance my skills as a "cyber warrior".
The cert programs/exams serve as a sort of "exit exam" to assure an employer that you can perform a defined set of skills. The degree programs tainted with "equity" no longer attest to that capability.
Universities are little more than glorified day care centers anyway
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