SAT scores prohibit diversity

The SAT isn’t an oracle.

And perhaps that’s why several schools have taken the “bold” step of eliminating the SAT requirement for admission.

Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., was one of about 285 accredited colleges in the early ‘90s that joined the surge of interest in selective colleges dropping the SAT.

Robert Massa, vice president for enrollment, student life and college relations at Dickinson College, said Dickinson’s administration believed that no longer requiring the SAT would improve the quality of the student body. And according to Massa, it has.

“After 26 years of evaluating applications at four competitive colleges, I know that the SAT is but one factor in selection, and not requiring it emphasizes that,” Massa said. “Dickinson had experienced a drop off in the number of applications and measured academic quality of students, which is not only measured by SAT scores, but by high school grades as well.”

Dickinson’s numbers speak louder than Massa’s words.

Since submitting SAT scores became optional, Dickinson’s applications increased by 35 percent and the proportion of entering freshmen who graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school classes has risen to 50 percent from 25 percent. Also, 98 percent of Dickinson applicants still submit their SAT scores to the college and subsequent freshman classes have gained an average of about 60 SAT points.

TCU apparently has evaluated the bandwagon and elected not to jump on.

Jim Atwood, assistant to the dean of admissions at TCU, said omitting the SAT requirement from applications would provide less information about each applicant. But Atwood did say the SAT scores are about third or fourth on the admissions’ priority list.

“The scores are looked at only with care, and they are not the be all and end all,” he said.

Then why not end it all?

You have to wonder about the merit of the test when study after study has shown standardized tests tend to be culturally biased.

On March 8, 1999, U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter ruled that the NCAA can’t use standardized test scores to determine eligibility for students attempting to participate in college athletics. Buckwalter, citing the NCAA’s own research, said the test-score criteria “has an unjustified disparate impact against African-Americans.”

An NCAA study showed that 21.4 percent of black athletes failed to meet Division I eligibility requirements in 1997. Only 4.2 percent of white athletes were affected by the requirements.

Jeffrey Penn, a spokesman for the College Board, which administers the SAT, said while minorities do tend to score lower on the test, it is not a reflection of any unfairness or cultural bias. Instead, Penn said students with lower scores usually come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, meaning they aren’t afforded the same educational opportunities as other students.

So even the College Board’s argument is that the test has the unfortunate consequence of discriminating against poor people, not minorities.

That’s much better, huh?

The hype about the SAT is most likely a byproduct of the competition for admission into competitive schools. Students compete for the best scores and take courses solely intended to increase their scores.

Does that prove that someone is a better student?

Such practices are tantamount to buying a score, and logically, discriminates against those who can’t afford the luxury of courses designed to improve scores on standardized tests.

This doesn’t encourage learning nor does it make students evaluate the substance of what college offers. The SAT has taken on an oversized, almost mythical importance in the American consciousness.

The tests do a relatively good job of evaluating a student’s developed capacity for mathematical and verbal reasoning. But does it indicate a student’s potential to develop these capacities? Even after most studies show the correlation between SAT scores and college success, usually graduation rates, is extremely low?

TCU’s stated goal is recruiting more minority students. TCU requires the SAT or other standardized tests for the admissions process. Most studies show that the SAT is, if not racially, then economically biased.
So how much does TCU want to diversify?

Apparently, not that much.

Editor in Chief Joel Anderson is a senior news-editorial journalism major from Missouri City.
He can be reached at (j.d.anderson@ student.tcu.edu).

Believe it or not, Thanksgiving is about more than turkey and dressing, football and downtown parades.
Instead, Thanksgiving is a day to acknowledge those things that make every day a little better and brighter — those things we often take for granted like friends, relatives, health and saftey. We cross our fingers and hope that this semester continues to be a relatively quiet one.

Thankfully, TCU and the Fort Worth community have avoided tragedies such as the Wedgwood Baptist Church shootings and the devastating F-2 tornado that hit downtown Fort Worth March 28, and claimed four lives and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.

Here are some other things we are thankful for as Thanksgiving approaches:

• The healthy return of Robbyn Kindle, a TCU alumna who underwent a four-organ transplant last May after a protracted, and near fatal, battle against liver disease.
• The TCU community donated 43 percent more blood for the annual Carter BloodCare drive on campus.
• The generous $10.5 million donation made by Stephen R. and Sarah Smith for the construction of a building to house the M.J. Neeley School of Business’ James A. Ryffel Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.
• Our No. 13-ranked football team, who threatened for a berth in a Bowl Championship Series’ game and will compete in a bowl game for a school-record third consecutive time. Too bad they played their home schedule before about 30,000 fans and 18,000 fans disguised as empty seats.

And finally, we’re thankful that the TCU community has permitted us to provide them with information, commentary and entertainment. We hope you’re a little thankful that we’re here.

During a recent conversation with a close friend, she expressed surprise that during an interview with a potential employer in Portland, the interviewer intimated a familiarity with TCU.

The source of his knowledge: not the university’s reputation for technology, diversity or superior academics. Instead, the source was football.

Would this person have asked about TCU without LaDainian Tomlinson leading the nation in rushing, and the team now ranked No. 14 in the Bowl Championship Series? I doubt it. But the word is getting out.

U.S. News and World Report ranks TCU as one of its “Best College Values” for private institutions at $16,900 yearly for books, housing and student fees. TCU also has an impressive student to faculty ration at 15:1, according to TCU’s Web site. And all this comes into play when incoming freshman from all over the country look at TCU’s value compared with other private colleges.

Some employers will be impressed with TCU graduates who can tout that they had more personal attention from professors than students from state colleges, but it’s also nice when that employer can talk to you about Tomlinson’s Heisman chances or how far TCU football can really go playing mediocre Western Athletic Conference teams this year.

TCU administrators and supporters know this is important — all one has to do is look around. TCU football is on bumper stickers, billboards and broadcasts. It’s strange to hear “SportsCenter” commentators mention TCU in the same breath as Nebraska, Florida State and Oklahoma, isn’t it?

It isn’t a coincidence that during the first two years with Chancellor Michael Ferrari and head football coach Dennis Franchione that TCU has won its last two bowl games. Ferrari understands the significance of dynamic intercollegiate athletics. That is why one of the 17 task forces under the Commission on the Future of TCU was the Role of Athletics Task Force.

One of the recommendations of the athletics task force was to “continue substantial funding of the high priority sports, football and men’s and women’s basketball, to maintain success.” One can understand why so much money is dedicated for football when there is so much money and notoriety to be gained from it.

In 1999, TCU athletic department administrators struck a deal with ESPN Regional Television, which has continued to broadcast TCU games nationally and across Texas. Plenty of money has also been circulating in the TCU football department after two straight wins in 1998 and 1999 at the Northwest Sun Bowl and inaugural GMAC Mobile Alabama Bowl. Before these wins, TCU had not won two straight bowl games since the 1936-1937 seasons. And TCU has accepted a bid to appear in this year’s Mobile Alabama Bowl.

With TCU administrators working hard to improve TCU’s academic reputation, U.S. News and World Report still ranks TCU in the second tier nationally. But the athletic reputation can improve at light speed in a matter of months. Just three seasons ago in 1997, TCU was 1-10.

People around the country are beginning to recognize TCU once again for football. And maybe this can do what all the new money coming into TCU can’t do by itself — reach prospective students that wouldn’t hear about TCU other than through football. They don’t necessarily have to be interested in football. If TCU is in the news, that can set off bells. People will want to know what else TCU offers.

So at Thanksgiving this year, if your grandparents want to talk more about TCU’s football team than your grades, professors or extracurricular activities, know that it is a good thing.

Steven Baker is a senior news-editorial journalism major from Fort Worth.
He can be reached at (lastevas@aol.com).