UC System Admissions Policies

This letter is to point out what may be a faulty assumption in Bunzel’s criticism of AB 462. He assumes that standard tests are excellent measures of intelligence, which is questionable. What they seem to measure are memorization and test-taking ability. Unfortunately for our society, this ability does not seem to generalize to the real world, where problems need to be solved, rather than exams passed. The street-wise student with lower grades depicted in Paredes’ case study is more likely to have real intelligence than the other student with higher grades. Perhaps a cultural diversity law would be a blessing in disguise for the higher education system, jolting it into reforming its ineffective selection and teaching practices.

PROF. THOMAS J. SCHEFF

UC Santa Barbara