An alarm about the influence of standardized tests on American society
Standardized tests are a lousy way of deciding things.  But at least they&#x27;re better than <i>non-standardized</i> tests.<p>At my university (SFU, in Canada) admission to most faculties is based on high school grades.  That&#x27;s <i>grades awarded by high schools</i> -- we used to have province-wide grade 12 exams, but for almost all subjects those were abolished a few years ago.  It&#x27;s widely recognized at the post-secondary level that a 90% grade from some schools means much more than a 90% grade from some other schools; but if anyone is actually adjusting high school grades to account for these differences, they&#x27;re not admitting it.<p>Entrance scholarships, and admission in one faculty (Business), is determined partly based on high school grades and partly based on extracurricular activities -- in most cases, volunteer activities.  Great, we&#x27;re bringing in well-rounded students who are dedicated to helping the community, right?  No; it turns out that they admit that they&#x27;re only volunteering in order to pad their resumes -- in some cases because high-priced consultants hired by their parents told them exactly what volunteering they should do and what to say about it when they&#x27;re writing their scholarship applications.  (I&#x27;ve been lobbying for years to get an analysis done of how the rating of student extracurricular activities correlates with the median income of their postal code.  I&#x27;m still waiting.)<p>The SAT become popular because it could identify smart kids who would otherwise have been overlooked due to their race, gender, religion, or class.  Is it perfect?  Hell no.  But as we discard standardized tests, I worry that we&#x27;re moving back to a world where university admission will depend less on aptitude and more on having parents who have the money and the connections to get you the &quot;right&quot; extracurricular experience.