Aptitude Again

[Unkotare]

Joining a growing number of colleges and universities, Harvard has decided that they will now again require a score on the SAT or ACT with applications for admission. Many schools got away from such tests during COVID, but now that things are settling back into normal, schools like Harvard have accepted that aptitude tests are an accurate and necessary way to predict the success of applicants. Recent research shows that the old "the tests are racist!" cry is just bullshit.

This doesn't mean that schools won't take other factors into consideration when making admissions decisions, but there you go.

 

[sparky]

Can you expand on the racist aspects Unkotare?

~S~

 

[shockedcanadian]

Joining a growing number of colleges and universities, Harvard has decided that they will now again require a score on the SAT or ACT with applications for admission. Many schools got away from such tests during COVID, but now that things are settling back into normal, schools like Harvard have accepted that aptitude tests are an accurate and necessary way to predict the success of applicants. Recent research shows that the old "the tests are racist!" cry is just bullshit.

This doesn't mean that schools won't take other factors into consideration when making admissions decisions, but there you go.

Racists.

 

[Unkotare]

Can you expand on the racist aspects Unkotare?

~S~

You've never heard the claim?

 

[sparky]

You've never heard the claim?

yes, our scotus has as well Unkotare

Is that were this is going???

~S~

 

[Unkotare]

yes, our scotus has as well Unkotare

Is that were this is going???

~S~

When did the Supreme Court rule the SAT racist?

 

[Unkotare]

...

Is that were this is going???

...

Where I was going was to point out a significant change in college admissions.

 

[Dogmaphobe]

The only people who think the test is biased are those who did poorly on it.

 

[Blackrook]

The SAT and the LSAT are lifesavers for me and people like me who are intelligent but find it hard to maintain a top GPA.

 

[Unkotare]

The SAT and the LSAT are lifesavers for me and people like me who are intelligent but find it hard to maintain a top GPA.

Some students have the opposite problem.

 

[DGS49]

In the late 60's and 70's, the differences in SAT (and other) scores among the races was explained away by saying that the tests had a "cultural bias." In other words, there were references embedded in the questions that Black kids were not familiar with.

The producers of the SAT (ETS, Princeton, NJ?) jumped on it IMMEDIATELY, and removed anything that could even remotely be deemed culturally biased, and the issue was dead. Keep in mind that the people who WRITE THE TESTS are mainly Liberals, who WANT POC's to do well.

But it's still brought up occasionally by those who don't know the history.

I am an example of how the SAT doesn't work so well. When I was in HS I got a very high score on the math portion, but only average on the verbal. My academic counselor at Pitt told me that people with that profile (high math, low verbal) often failed out of Pitt quickly, as it was an indication of poor study habits. I quickly failed out and joined the Army.

But seriously, to take away the quantitative evaluation of students is folly, and everybody knows it. Blacks and Hispanics WILL NECESSARILY be under-represented among the higher scores for reasons that are obvious, if unspoken. And they have nothing to do with racism.

 

[Unkotare]

In the late 60's and 70's, the differences in SAT (and other) scores among the races was explained away by saying that the tests had a "cultural bias." In other words, there were references embedded in the questions that Black kids were not familiar with.

The producers of the SAT (ETS, Princeton, NJ?) jumped on it IMMEDIATELY, and removed anything that could even remotely be deemed culturally biased, and the issue was dead. Keep in mind that the people who WRITE THE TESTS are mainly Liberals, who WANT POC's to do well.

But it's still brought up occasionally by those who don't know the history. ... .

It's actually worse than that. The "issue" comes up all the time in academia, and every ten years like (seeming) clockwork, the SAT has been altered in some way to make it more "accessible." It never "works" in producing the pre-determined outcomes leftists demand, so it changes again and again. Sometimes it has changed back to one of the earlier formats.

 

[The Duke]

Idk, but when I signed up for college we had to take a test, and if you failed it, you were not college material.

2 1/2 years after taking classes, they did away with that. I signed up for extra semesters and got out quick after

that happened because the campus population exploded, as did book and tuition prices.

It flooded the campus with non-college material students.

 

[mamooth]

The "issue" comes up all the time in academia, and every ten years like (seeming) clockwork,

I haven't heard that claim since the 70s.

Where are you coming up with this?

 

[Unkotare]

I haven't heard that claim since the 70s.

Where are you coming up with this?

Working in education for the past 30 years, including teaching, proctoring, managing, and creating prep materials for the SAT and ACT for decades. Very much a view from the inside.

 

[MaryL]

Can you expand on the racist aspects Unkotare?

~S~

Unakotre is the penultimate contrarian. You say potato, his says...racism! Unko is a weeb a contrarian leftist. Leave it at that.

 

[Unkotare]

Unakotre is the penultimate contrarian. You say potato, his says...racism! Unko is a weeb a contrarian leftist. ...

You're still wrong, you ditzy old broad.

 

[MaryL]

You're still wrong, you ditzy old broad.

Thanks. And you? How is that open borders, sanctuary cities thing working for ya? I know. I know, "racism is bad". Help me out, Unko. I need your special incite to explain why open borders is good, even though it harms us and we never needed it nor asked for it. Democracy is at stake! Indeed. What is your pithy blithe response, my dear friend?

 

[Unkotare]

....How is that open borders, sanctuary cities thing working for ya? ....

They're not "working out" for me at all as I don't and never have supported those things, ya ditzy old broad.

 

[The Duke]

Unakotre is the penultimate contrarian. You say potato, his says...racism! Unko is a weeb a contrarian leftist. Leave it at that.

I think you might have him confused with Admiral Rockwell Tory.

That dude is contrarian.