Posted on 03/28/2022 8:03:32 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
What are you giving up for Lent? California State University is giving up academics — at least where standardized testing for admission is concerned.
The school’s Board of Trustees issued the decision Wednesday.
Due to the pandemic, CSU had temporarily axed ACT and SAT considerations. Now it’s been made permanent.
Why would a school terminate tests which determine how good a student is at school in order to decide whether they should be let into a school that doesn’t let everyone in? Well, maybe the school lets everyone in. But according to CSU acting Chancellor Steve Relyea, it’s about leveling the playing field. He made that clear to CBS News:
“This decision 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.”
Down with stress:
“In essence, we are eliminating our reliance on the high-stress, high-stakes test that has shown negligible benefit and providing our applicants with greater opportunities to demonstrate their drive, talents and potential for college success.”
If someone has “drive, talents and potential for college success,” they’d presumably do well on tests. Then again, maybe doing well on tests is no longer necessary for college success:
Professor Razes the Evil of Writing Rules, Whacks White Supremacy by Gonging Grades
University Professor Goes the Route of ‘Ungrading’ — in Math
Excellence Awaits: Professors Make Their Case for Ending Grades
That may only be fair, since university newcomers won’t necessarily have been previously required to garner good grades:
Virginia School District Targets Inequity by Shooting at Grades and Deadlines
Oregon’s Education Dept. Takes a Stand Against Standards — Racism, to the Layperson
In Order to Attack ‘Systemic Racism,’ a School Eliminates Failure and Time Constraints
As for the SAT, the test itself has undergone adjustment. In May of 2019, RS Editor-At-Large Kira Davis explained:
Typically, we think about this idea in terms of the rich shutting out the poor, but a new strategy for judging SAT scores throws the old stereotype out the window. In this newest scheme to “even the playing field” the College Board (which oversees SAT testing) has decided they will add a new “adversity score” when grading their college entrance exams. The intention is to add points to the grades of students who come from areas that score higher on the “adversity” scale. It will take into account crime rates, poverty rates and property values.
In education, it’s a new day. Meritocracy is, well, old-school. As such, it’s not earning merit with cutting-edge experts.
Some of those, evidently, sit on the California State University Board of Trustees. The vote to sack the SAT and ACT was unanimous.
Standardized test scores can still be used for placement in subjects such as math, but that’s on the move, too:
A Major News Outlet Asks if Math is Racist
https://t.co/YxxOsvu8wd— RedState (@RedState) December 10, 2021
Major University Professor Fights Math's 'Harbor for Whiteness' https://t.co/6NWoqgBpsD
— RedState (@RedState) August 18, 2021
“Wow—you only hire PhDs? Only 2% of the United States population has a PhD. Very rare.”
I am not looking to hire the 98%. In engineering, there are far more engineers than than 2% with engineering doctorates. It is fairly common to find a significant pool of qualified candidates with the right credentials. If it was easy then everyone would be doing it.
P.S. A case in point: When I took over a team with 35 engineers, four had engineering doctorates, and all had one or more engineering graduate degrees with and engineering undergraduate degrees. It was an enterprise systems architecture team and under performers were not hired or retained. To get through the interview the person had to be able to speak about accomplishments that required high level engineering. Designing multi-billion dollar systems isn’t done by nerds who do not have writing, social, and communication skills.
“ capstone projects with 5 people on a team and only 1 did any work but all passed.”
Group work is becoming more prevalent in many law schools. This may be why some people who appear to be very lacking in intelligence have law degrees.
Unfortunately, I have heard that it is beginning in medical school. This will lead to a serious decrease in the ability of our doctors. We know because of Covid that so many doctors are beholden to big Pharma and big medical conglomerates but hopefully they will still have knowledge and be able to think.
Russia and China reward hard work and intelligence.
The US rewards “special groups” and punishes hard work and intelligence.
There is no question who will own the future.
It’s great. A kid I used to babysit is getting a PhD in something extremely mathematical (not sure what) at Cal Tech. He’s always been brilliant and took Calculus in 9th grade or something like that.
I’m glad you are able to find the 2%. :)
If your primary goal is to get into a top California state college then move to a mediocre school district and be the top student.
“Russia and China reward hard work and intelligence.”
ROTFLMAO!
The Russians do not discriminate against ethnic Russians in education and employment.
The Chinese do not discriminate against ethnic Chinese in education and employment.
The US does discriminate against white Americans in education and employment.
There is nothing amusing about it—and it is an undeniable fact.
“There is nothing amusing about it—”
What is amusing is that you think these corrupt cultures reward the hard workers!
You don’t know much about communism!
Agreed. Or the student could take the path my 2nd son did: run the 11th fastest 2 mile in the state, and get recruited to a top CA state college for cross country and distance track:)
One problem with trying the “mediocre school district” plan is that they don’t offer the AP classes that both Cal State and UC really want to see on the transcripts (and those bump GPAs too).
So the colleges do look at AP tests? Isn’t that racist. Sports scholarships are far and few between. Especially Div. 1 and you are competing for very few spots nationwide. Not a realistic approach.
No, I know—I was somewhat kidding. Everyone thinks they can be recruited to play sports in the NCAA but it’s as rare as hen’s teeth. On the other hand, there are a lot of “lesser” sports if one works hard can be a path to admission (especially for girls).
AP scores are submitted but they are not used to evaluate admission to UC or Cal State. They can be used AFTER admission for placement purposes (and college credit sometimes).
But grades in AP classes (not the AP test) are considered for admission.
Also I see that MIT brought back the SAT after getting rid of it the past two years. Good for them. Maybe UC and Cal State will come to their senses as well, and for similar reasons:
But what does A+ in all AP subjects get you?
An A in an AP class gets you a 5.0 for that class instead of the normal 4.0.
That’s why the average GPA for entering freshman at UC Berkeley or UCLA is like 4.5 or something. As many As in as many AP classes as possible is the goal.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.