SAT: Unfair Obstacle or Equal Measure?

A University of California task force has proposed making the Scholastic Aptitude Test optional, instead of a mandatory criterion for admission. The Latino Eligibility Task Force says that continued use of the SAT could mean a drop of up to 70% in the number of Latino students at UC campuses as affirmative action ends in undergraduate admissions. DEBORAH BELGUM spoke to those with differing views of the proposal.

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JAMES E. SHAW

Public school law consultant at Los Angeles County Office of Education

According to the University of California, Latinos would be the biggest beneficiaries if this plan is implemented. The reason given is that Latinos are the fastest growing group in the state, soon headed for 50%-plus majority status in every public kindergarten classroom in California by 2010.

Destroying an important assessment standard is being argued as the best way to help Latinos overcome the admission hurdle the SAT is said to represent, and thus more easily increase their numbers in the University of California system.

The announcement of this plan is an admission by the state that it sees no role for itself in creating or supporting specialized teaching and learning enhancement programs from kindergarten through 12th grade, so that SAT mastery, not failure, is expected and achieved.

Before- and after-school tutoring programs, Saturday classes sponsored by churches and community-based organizations, celebrities in the schools exhorting students to study hard, business-in-the-schools programs, SAT-prep courses and longer instructional days are just some of the kinds of enrichment programs necessary for meeting and beating the SAT.

The road to success is often paved with temporary conditions, barriers and hurdles. The plan by the University of California to remove an identified barrier--the SAT--is a bad one that only will produce long-term damage. Latino college graduates who did not take the SAT might be viewed by prospective employers, clients and others as inferior and incompetent.

If the University of California does not insist on the SAT, elected officials and community leaders ought to. Not only does successfully passing this test produce sorely needed role models for the community, but the SAT is meant to certify the acquisition of accumulated knowledge. It says that you know that you know that you know. It is a rite of passage.