Discarding SAT Scores for UC Admission

What exactly does UC President Richard Atkinson mean when he suggests that the SAT should be thrown out and a more “holistic” approach be installed that would factor in whatever special opportunities or hurdles each student faced (Feb. 17-19)? This ridiculous idea goes along with the liberal desire to do away with all the old standards, which were an attempt to assess the student’s ability to handle the rigors of a university curriculum.

Of course, since the “dumbing down” of our university curriculum, maybe we should no longer be attempting to determine a student’s suitability to engage in an education based on the old standards of science, mathematics and humanities. A holistic approach might just be more indicative of the chance for success when faced with courses such as women’s studies or cultural diversity or any of the other fluff courses that now fill the curriculum of today’s universities.

JOYCE HOFFMAN

Laguna Beach

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I would like to thank Atkinson for having the courage to speak up and expose the ridiculous pedagogy that results from inappropriate use of standardized tests. The SAT has become an influence throughout the education system. Unfortunately, many children don’t demonstrate their learning and achievement very well in the “fill in the bubble with a No. 2 pencil” form of assessment. This perversion of normal pedagogy, which limits learning and assessment to one standardized format, denies access to educational achievement and success to a wide range of students.

The importance of the SAT is often cited as a justification for politicians’ current obsession with the Stanford 9 assessment test. I would challenge educational leaders to reflect on the educational consequences that result from inappropriate use and interpretation of one limited assessment tool. If we are not sure what the SAT actually measures, should we not also ask what the Stanford 9 claims to measure, how accurately it measures what it claims to measure and what changes in the scores are actually demonstrating?

JANET LEE DAVIS

Los Angeles