Redistributing the College Experience

Domenick J. Maglio, Ph.D. Neo-Traditionalist

Middle class Americans have worked hard to help their children have an opportunity to go to college and obtain the American dream. Many encourage, monitor and assist their children in their daily studies. As the students enter high school motivated students study for the SAT and ACT tests to insure their scores are sufficiently high to qualify for college. Some families even pay out-of-pocket for specialized college entrance training for their children to receive better test scores.

Removing these national standardized test scores from the admission packet will end the ability of college admission offices to make objective judgments as to the suitability of a student to enter that college. Objective measures of the student’s competency will no longer exist. It will leave only subjective opinions of people who know the individual, dubious grades, diversity standards and financial ability to pay as the only means of choosing one student over another.

This change in admission criteria will result in students with money and government mandated minority students comprising the bulk of college admissions. Many bright, disciplined middle class students will be shut out of a realistic opportunity to earn a college degree.

By eliminating a competency national exam, the rug will be pulled out from under the high achieving middle class student. The SAT and ACT are in the process of being seriously downgraded or stopped outright. Without replacing it with another standardized instrument motivated students are not going to have a way to prove they are competent.

The national phenomenon of inflated high school grades makes it impossible to determine the caliber of a student when there is no way to compare the school quality of each applicant. Whenever we lower or eliminate standards behavior deteriorates. Lowering criteria for voting, getting loans for mortgages, credit cards, or driving results in lower performance. Stripping away SAT and ACT standards from the admission process for college may lower student test anxiety but it also will prevent significant portions of competent students from entering college.

William Fitzsimmons, Dean of Admissions at Harvard, led a commission on the study on the use of standardized tests on undergraduate admissions. He presented the findings of the study of over 5500 college admission officials and high school guidance counselors who considered no test admissions. Jeff Rickey, the Dean of Admissions at Earlham College of Indiana, stated, “A year from now we will be able to inform you as to whether we are going test optional or not.” “Need for SAT, ACT Questioned: Colleges Ponder No Test Admissions”, The New York Times, September 29, 2008, pg. 6.

The days of placing pressure on oneself to study for the SAT or the ACT are numbered. “The National Association of College Admissions Report did not advocate ending the SAT and the ACT altogether but it does advise admission offices to consider doing without these exams and looking at other factors in a student’s performance.” “Powerful Testing Organization Shouldn’t Dictate Academic Ability, Tampa Tribune, September 25, 2008, p. 10. There was no mention of refining the exams to make them more relevant in predicting college performance only a warning about making them optional by next year.

Dismissing standardized entrance tests will be another nail in the coffin of higher education. It will create a disincentive for students to apply themselves in their academic studies. Without a standardized test as a reference point it will be impossible to differentiate a good student from a quality high school from a mediocre student who has received high grades from a poor academic school. Likewise, it will be difficult to evaluate foreign students who want an American higher education degree.

It is in the best interest of all students in colleges and universities to keep the national college entrance exam. Students who are neither rich nor minority members will not have a competitive way to demonstrate their suitability for higher education. Robbing students of the opportunity to improve their academic merit will shrink the pool of capable college students. The consequence for our nation is a brain drain that will have immeasurable impact on our economy.

Changing the rules of the college admission procedures will make it harder for middle class students to enter college while diluting the academic standards for admission. It will make it more difficult for the industrious student to prove he has the necessary skills and knowledge to be successful in a university. The change in the formula of college admissions will lower the excellence and redistribute the college experience to many who have not earned this privilege. Too many of our best and brightest will be left on the outside.

Dr. Maglio is the author of Invasion Within and Essential Parenting. He is a psychotherapist and the owner/director of Wider Horizons School.