When it comes to test scores as criteria for college admissions, Linda Chavez fails to point out that most tests discriminate against poor white people as much as poor Hispanics and African-Americans.
There is nothing wrong with “playing by the rules,” as she advocates in her July 23 column (Op-Ed), if the rules are fairly composed and fairly administered. For example, the Miller Analogies Test, required for graduate school admission, has contained a question requiring familiarity with ballet and fencing terms. That question effectively penalized all but the most privileged elements of this society.
Furthermore, the question had no relevance to ability to succeed in graduate school. Other tests contain similarly class-biased questions. Tutoring programs will not address the problem of class-related test questions, because they test a lifetime of class-related experience. Fair-minded university admissions staff members recognize this problem and generally use a fairly moderate cutoff score for standardized tests, relying primarily on other factors, such as motivation, in admitting students.
If it ever becomes universally recognized that most rejected college applicants do not have African-Americans or Hispanics to blame but, instead, privileged European-Americans who score well on tests designed for them, we may see some changed attitudes about affirmative action.
