THE SATS are one of the most hated experiences of American academic life. The bane of every college-bound student's life may cease to be a reality for those applying to public schools in California. The University of California system - which, with over 170,000 students enrolled in its institutions, is the largest user of the SAT tests of any state system - currently is deciding on whether to discontinue use of the SAT as a criterion for admission. They should give this decision a great amount of thought before making such a drastic change.
California officials are in favor of using a unique test for their schools, as they do not consider the SAT to be an adequate indicator of an applicant's potential. However, the University of California must consider the irreplaceable quality of a national comparison for each applicant, which is offered by the SATs. Because of this unique attribute, the University of California should continue to use the SATs.
University of California school system administrators believe that it is correct in altering the current SAT system. They claim that the test measures general achievement, as opposed to aptitude. By this logic, the SAT has more content related to curriculum material than raw reasoning skills. Because of this assertion, the University of California system is convinced of the need for their unique test ("Univ. of Calif. Mulls Dropping SAT Requisite," CNN.com, Feb. 1). They do not believe that the SAT is suited for their needs. The College Board, the organization that administers the test, has stated that they would help the University of California create a new test, but stresses that the SATs would continue to be a more complete assessment.
The SAT is supposed to be used as a measure to gauge the aptitude of a student. Some have argued that there are many loopholes inherent in the use of SATs that undermines the credibility of the test. For instance, there are many SAT preparatory courses offered around the nation to help students better their scores. Many of these courses are quite expensive, which leads some to claim that students from wealthy families have an unfair advantage.
Even with all these disparities, there are many positive qualities that should make the SAT remain a main factor in college admissions.
College bound students all around the nation take the SATs. The widespread use of the SATs allows comparisons between a student and his or her colleagues in their county, state and nation. This feature allows an equal playing field for all applicants and downplays the role of grade inflation or poorer educational resources of a school system that may not be as well endowed as others.
If the University of California were to discard SAT results, they would lose that ability to compare an applicant to a national pool. Even though a new test tailored solely to the University of California probably would be offered widely in California, it would be less popular in other states. For students deciding whether or not to apply to a California public college, the pressure of having to take an additional test would be a deterrent to applying.
This loss of applicants from around the nation, in addition to the loss of interest, would come as a direct result from the elimination of the SATs. This University, as well as the University of California, gains a great deal of prestige and talent from students around the nation. Getting into a public university is much tougher if one is out of state, and this allows university admissions committees the leeway to recruit the academic cream of the crop. Losing gifted out of state students would not only impact the University of California, but also its students, who would miss out on the diversity offered at their public colleges.
Due to the negative results resulting from dropping the SAT as a requirement and using a separate test, the University of California should not change the current practice. But even though they might not consider the SAT to be a perfect system, it is the most useful for their needs in a national context.
(Alex Rosemblat's column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at arosemblat@cavalierdaily.com.)
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