Higher Admissions: The Rise, Decline, and Return of Standardized Testing
Hardcover
- Price:
- $22.95/拢18.99
- ISBN:
- Published (US):
- Sep 17, 2024
- Published (UK):
- Nov 12, 2024
- Copyright:
- 2024
- Pages:
- 176
- Size:
- 5 x 8 in.
- 1 table
- Main_subject:
- Education
ebook
In the 1930s, American colleges and universities began to screen applications using the SAT, a mass-administered, IQ-descended standardized test. The widespread adoption of the test accompanied the development of the world鈥檚 first mass higher education system鈥攁nd served to promote the idea that the United States was becoming a 鈥渕eritocracy鈥� in which admission to selective higher education institutions would be granted to those who most deserved it. In Higher Admissions, Nicholas Lemann reflects on the state of America鈥檚 aspirational meritocracy and the enduring value and meaning of standardized testing.
Lemann writes that the anticipation of the Supreme Court鈥檚 2023 decision banning affirmative action, plus the Covid pandemic, led hundreds of universities to stop requiring standardized admissions tests; now many colleges and universities are reinstituting test requirements. The country is preoccupied with the admissions policies of the most selective universities, but Lemann redirects our attention to an alternate path that American higher education could have taken, and can still take鈥攐ne that emphasizes selective admission less and a significant upgrade of the entire higher education system more. Lemann argues that to improve the state of higher education overall, we should focus not on the narrow chokepoint of admission to highly selective colleges, but on efforts to create as much meaningful opportunity for flourishing in our vast higher education system for as many people as possible. The book includes thoughtful and challenging responses from Marvin Krislov, Patricia G谩ndara, and Prudence Carter.
