A week ago today, the Wall Street Journal reported the College Board’s plan to assign an an adversity score to each SAT-taking student. In just one week, adversity scoring has provoked strong reactions from people across the political spectrum. Many who support the idea of encouraging diversity in college admissions are troubled by this adversity scoring scheme. Even Slate.com, which is widely regarded as a far-left news outlet, has criticized adversity scoring as a “black box” scheme.
Different people have vastly different views on this issue, and some are passionate about it one way or the other. Personally I support the idea of encouraging colleges to look for qualified candidates from all backgrounds. But the key word is QUALIFIED. Sadly today’s high school students face brutal competition unimaginable to their parents and grandparents when they were at that age. Every seat taken by one student in a selective college is a seat denied to another. And how far can this go? Equalize college GPAs? Equalize college graduation rates? Equalize graduate school admission rates, including medical schools?
I have the utmost respect for those who are willing to allow a surgeon who is professionally inept but board certified due to extraneous considerations to operate on their brains. Glad to hear inputs from “education experts” and “policy makers.”