The Economist - USA (2020-02-08)

The EconomistFebruary 8th 2020 United States 23

ingat“who?”,andTulsiGabbard,pollingat

“ugh”,hadthestatevirtuallytothemselves.

MrPatrickwasapopularandaccom-

plishedgovernor,andmayhavemadea de-

centrunhadheenteredtheraceearlier.But

heisoutofstepwiththetimes:notonlydid

heimplementMittRomney’shealth-care

planinMassachusetts,heworkedatMr

Romney’s old private-equity firm, Bain

Capital,untilhelaunchedhiscampaign.

AsforMsGabbard,shehaslongbeenerrat-

ic,butinJanuaryshesuedHillaryClinton

fordefamation,seeking$50mindamages

forMrsClinton’spublicremarkthatRussia

was“grooming[her]tobethethird-party

candidate,”whichMsGabbarddenies.

Therestofthefieldarrivedinthewee

hoursofFebruary4th.Localnewsthenext

morningshowedeachofthemsteppingoff

theirplanes,alllookingbleary-eyedexcept

forElizabethWarren,whowasbouncing

withhercustomaryenergy.AtPeteButti-

gieg’seventinManchesterthenextmorn-

ing,journalistsembeddedwiththecam-

paigncompetedtoseewhohadsleptleast.

MrButtigiegknowshow topander to a

hometowncrowd.Sixdaysearlier,justbe-

foreIowacaucused,hesaiditwastimefor

“apresidentwhosevisionwasshapedby

theAmericanheartland.”InManchesterhe

praisedNewHampshire’s“traditionofthe

townmeetingandtownhall.”

MrSandersalsonoddedtothetown-

halltradition,ata rallyinDerrythenext

day:“Probablyinthisveryroom,youhave

town meetings and people argue about

howmuchyou’regoingtospendonthe

schoolsandroads...Oneperson,onevoteis

whatAmericandemocracyissupposedto

beabout,”hesaid,beforelaunchinginto

hiscustomarystemwinderonconcentrat-

edwealth.Hisrallywaswell-attended,and

notjust by hisusual supporterseither.

Alex,a businessstudentfromMassachu-

setts who favours Mike Bloomberg and

planstoworkinthehealth-insurancein-

dustryafterhegraduates,waitedinlinefor

twohoursona frigidmorningtoaskMr

Sanderswhatheplannedtodoaboutwork-

erslikehimonceprivatehealthinsurance

goesthewayofthedodo.MrSandersasked,

“DoesanyonethinkthatAlexisanenemy

ofmine?”andpromiseda “justtransition.”

MrSanderswillbehardtobeatinthe

GraniteState.RennyCushing,thestateleg-

islatorwhointroducedhim,saidthat“Ber-

niehashadanimpactonourstateforde-

cades,”crossingthebordertojoinpicket

linesandsupportworkerstryingtounion-

ise.ThoughElizabethWarrenrepresents

NewHampshire’ssouthernneighbour,Mr

Sandershasbeeninpoliticslonger;people

seemtoknowhimbetter,andatleastin

thatroom,theylikedhimmore.Afterthat

smalltriumph,MrSandersand therest

continuedtrundlingalongthestate’snar-

row,windingroads,lookingforonemore

mictograb,onemorehandtoshake. 7

L

ikeanyhotbedofscholarlyactivity,the

University of California (uc) is no

strangertorows.Recentlya debateoverthe

useofsats andacts,testsusedincollege

admissions,hasspilledoutfromcampus

and into thecourtroom.InDecember a

lawsuitdenouncinguc’suseofthetests

wasfiledintheAlamedaCountycourt.On

February3rda commissionreviewingad-

missions proceduresrecommended that

ucshould resistcalls to abandon tests.

Morethan1,000collegesacrossAmerica

havemadesubmittingtestscoresoptional

formanystudents,thoughhardlyanyare

completely“testblind”.ucisbyfarthelarg-

est institution to consider abandoning

them.uc’ssize(ithasabout220,000un-

dergraduates)andprestige meansothers

willwatchwhatit doescarefully.

Firstadministeredin1926,satshave

facedcriticismforfavouringthewealthy

sincethe1940s—anirony,sincetheywere

originallyadoptedbyHarvardtoexpandits

intakebeyondtheboardingschoolsofthe

north-east.WhiletheCollegeBoard,which

ownsthesats,hasworkedhardtoelimi-

nate egregious advantages for children

fromwealthyfamilies—gonearetheques-

tionsaboutoarsmenandregattas—there

hasbeena persistentcorrelationbetween

testscoresandbothsocioeconomicstatus

andrace.TheCollegeBoardacknowledges

thesecorrelations,butarguesthattheyre-

flect“learninggapsthatresultfromeduca-

tionalandsocietalinequities”,notbiasin

thetestitself.Allmeasuresofcollegepre-

parednessareaffectedbysocietalinequity,

anditisunsurprising,ifunfortunate,that

studentsfrompoorbackgroundsperform

worse.Usingtestscores,theCollegeBoard

argues,helpscollegestoselectthosestu-

dentsmostlikelytothrive.

Academicshavereachednoconsensus

onhowwellthetestspredictstudentsuc-

cess at university. Most agree on two

things:thathigh-schoolgradepointaver-

age(hsgpa) isthebestpredictorofcollege

successandthatthetests,whencombined

with grade averages, make predictions

moreaccurate.Howmuchtestsaddisdis-

puted.TheCollegeBoardclaimsthatthe

additionalpredictivepowerofferedbythe

sats issignificant.Manydisagree.

Evenif thequestionofpredictivepower

were resolved, another question arises

abouthowgoodthetestswouldhavetobe

atpredictingcollegeoutcomestojustify

theiruse.Iftheysignificantlydecreased

thenumberofsuccessfulapplicantsfrom

alreadydisadvantagedgroups,sucha sac-

rificewouldpresumablynotbejustifiedby

a minorgaininpredictivepower.Howin-

stitutionsjudgethistrade-offdependson

theirmission,circumstancesandtheco-

horttheywanttoattract.Thisgoestothe

heartofanage-oldquestion.Shoulduni-

versitiesconsiderthemselvesprimarilyas

centresofacademicexcellence,andthere-

forestrivetoacceptthestudentsmostlike-

lytoexcelacademically?Orshouldtheyac-

BERKELEY

UniversityofCalifornia’sreviewofitsadmissionsproceduressmilesonsats

Testingandcollegeadmissions

What’sSAT

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