00:00Today, I'm going to explain why many University of California professors are demanding that the
00:05UC system bring back the SAT in admissions. The SAT, or Scholastic Aptitude Test, measures math
00:11and verbal skills as a way of projecting how well a student would do if admitted to college. And,
00:16until recently, it was a ubiquitous part of the college application process. But in 2020,
00:21at the height of the moral panic around the Black Lives Matter movement, the UC system
00:25dropped the SAT in admissions. Now, it relies on high school grades, recommendations, essays,
00:31and the like. The result of this new policy is that a large number of students have arrived on
00:36campus simply unable to do the work. And, UC professors find themselves forced to provide
00:42a remedial education instead of a college education. So, they've asked the UC system to bring the SATs
00:48back. Now, it hasn't happened yet. The UC Board of Regents, which governs the UC system, has to
00:53complete studying the issue, and they've promised a full report by June 2027. But, this all feeds
00:59into an ongoing debate about race and diversity on college campuses that has been raging for more
01:04than three decades. In 1996, voters passed Proposition 209, which banned the use of race in admissions.
01:10Many colleges still try to find ways of finding out applicants' race or their ethnic identities using
01:17their application essays and other factors. And, in 2020, the advocates of affirmative action
01:23tried asking voters to repeal Proposition 209, and voters stuck with Proposition 209. The same
01:30liberal electorate that voted for Joe Biden over Donald Trump 2-1 still rejected the use of race
01:35in college admissions. Standardized testing may be rough, but it is one of the only ways that students
01:41from disadvantaged backgrounds can signal to colleges that they really belong there. And, doing away with
01:46standardized testing degrades the college education from which minority students are supposed to benefit.
01:51This will all be decided over the next year, but expect the debate to continue.
Comments