‘We Made a Mistake’: University of California Faculty Calls to Reinstate SAT [link only - no paywall]

Bloomberg via Wordpress ^ | August 6, 2026 | Andrew Oxford and Liam Knox

[grundle]

Link only - no paywall

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TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS:

[Freedom4US]

That was no “mistake”. Malice aforethought. Who was the “we” in this operation? What is their name, what position do they hold?

[marktwain]

Rejecting standardized testing is just one of the many ways Leftists reject reality.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

That conclusion has drawn the ire of some students and alumni, who argue the campaign to bring back the SAT is as much about race and class as it is academics. “We most certainly should not accept the findings of a report that hosts a blatantly racist recommendation: That UC accepting more diverse low-income students from under-resourced high schools is the problem,” Alexis Atsilvsgi Zaragoza, a former student regent, told the board.

Alexis, Alexis, Alexis...you erroneously jumped to conclusions here. The problems with student readiness and achievement are clearly caused by Climate Change, not Racism.

[ComputerGuy]

I think most of the eighth graders I went to school with in New Jersey could handle college-freshman courses with ease.

[Organic Panic]

I wasted two years of college being forced to take remedial classes so people who had no business in college could catch up to 8th graders.

[The_Media_never_lie]

That was no “mistake”. Malice aforethought. Who was the “we” in this operation? What is their name, what position do they hold?

***********************************************

It certainly was no mistake.

No, “we are the educated ‘stupid’”, would be correct.

[Reily]

You left out caused by Nixon, Reagan and Trump!

[DarrellZero]

“We made a mistake.”

Well duh.

[normbal]

I attended UCSD 1983-87, then med school.

I had a friend there who was doing tutoring for kids “graduating” out of SD unified school district who couldn’t read, math, take notes, anything. The college called it “summer bridge.”

Meanwhile, here was I, seven years active duty Army where I got an associates degree in my spare time (I was a medic/pharmacy tech) and busted my ass with 5 classes a quarter making Regent’s scholar and eventually Phi Beta Kappa, Cum Laude grad, dual major pre-med, double digit MCATs.

I was infuriated the university was putting kids into classes who weren’t even ready for HS level work much less uni.

I was old school then, old school now; you get MORE of what you subsidize, and less of what you TAX. The UC system was subsidizing stupid, and they got TONS of it in return as a bumper crop.

[Flaming Conservative]

Yes. Yes you did. But not to worry. According to Copilot:

Admissions context: Colleges may use SAT scores alongside other factors (e.g., GPA, essays, extracurriculars) to support diversity goals, but they cannot use the SAT itself to directly target or exclude groups in a way that violates civil rights laws.

Policy changes: Some institutions have adopted test-optional or test-flexible policies to broaden applicant pools, especially from underrepresented groups, but these are strategic choices, not mandated by College Board.

[hanamizu]

That UC accepting more diverse low-income students from under-resourced high schools is the problem,”

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The problem isn’t the race or the low income of the students, it’s the fact that graduated ‘under-resourced high schools’ and enter the University unable to read, write or do math on even a high-school level.

I graduated from the University of California system back when mammoths roamed the earth. If you weren’t academically prepared to take the required English 1 class, you had to take and pass something called ‘Subject A’ at extra expense and no credit given.

I sometimes get calls and letters from my alma mater that essentially brag about how many remedial and tutoring opportunities they offer to students who frankly might have trouble with community college level classes, let alone University of California.

The SAT isn’t perfect, but it does give a clue as to how ready a young man or woman is to tackle university classes with some hope of success.

[Mouton]

The UC system was subsidizing stupid, and they got TONS of it in return as a bumper crop.

Not just UC, it is everywhere.

Many reasons. A few are lack of parental involvement or any parent present in the household. The number of kids living in foster care in my county is unbelievable. Some due to drug use by parents, or abuse, or where the parent is in jail. Beyond that, there exists the coddle society now. On parent health care till 26 is one aspect of it. Failure to launch is another. Another is the schools themselves. No discipline, it is hard to learn in an environment of distraction or lack of heeding authority figures. Unpinning all of this is the pervasive use of drugs starting with marijuana all the way to meth and heroin.

So now we have a bifurcated society, those who have achieved mostly by their education and or hard work and those who did not but believe the government should make it all even: “you don’t need that big house or luxury car and if you sold or shared them, we could get by”. My thought about that, come and take it.

[newfreep]

Excerpt...

Randy Schekman thought the University of California was right to ditch the SAT. Then he watched a growing number of students struggle with basic science concepts in the introductory biology course he teaches each fall at UC Berkeley.

“I really feel we made a mistake,” the Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist said.

Now, Sheckman is one of thousands of faculty members urging the UC system to reconsider its test-free admissions policy. They argue more students are arriving underprepared for college-level work since the system stopped considering SAT and ACT scores in 2020.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Not just math & science. Over on X, Michelle Maxwell posted "This is upsetting. So glad we brought cursive back in our school district. Last year the 2nd graders wrote us(the school board members) the cutest thank you notes in CURSIVE. If this video upsets you please go to the your school board meeting and let them know in public comment.

College students asked to read a single, simple word in cursive:

[whitney69]

Rejecting standardized testing is just one of the many ways Leftists reject reality. And their own failure at teaching.

wy69

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“under-resourced high schools” is the universal teachers’ union complaint about the root cause. If you look at per-capita spending on students across the country, you are hard-pressed to see a direct correlation between student spending and performance. Often the districts spending the most get the worst results. My sister taught math for 45 years to middle school and high school students. She can get outstanding results with a chalkboard and a piece of chalk.

[hanamizu]

She can get outstanding results with a chalkboard and a piece of chalk.

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I taught jr high history, pretty much using chalkboard and chalk and requiring students to actually read the text and pay attention to the notes I put on the board. Admins were upset that I didn’t spend more money on ‘stuff’ for the classroom.

After I retired, I subbed at the same school. As the years passed, ‘smart boards’ replaced chalkboards, and Chromebooks seemed to replace actual teaching in a lot of classes. The more ‘stuff’ the poorer results until we now have high school grads showing up to colleges functionally illiterate and innumerate.

[Savage Beast]

Smart people didn’t have to try it to know it would be a mistake.

[Albion Wilde]

Now do police.