6 minute read
Yurun Zheng
“In the high school age group, risks of serious illness or death with COVID are small. However, anyone who is unvaccinated is a risk to family and friends. Getting vaccinated against COVID is not just for yourself, it is to stop the spread of the disease through our schools, our families, our communities, and our country. It is something that is important to do as a good neighbor and citizen since anyone at any age can have a severe course of illness,” Smith said.
As for the student who couldn’t get vaccinated at all, they have a plea for everyone who is on the fence about getting vaccinated. “If you have the option to get the vaccine, I beg you to get it,” they said. “Please choose to protect yourself and others around you. Be grateful that you even have the option. If you still decide on not getting it, try to wear your mask as often as possible to prevent an increase in cases.”
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It was a Saturday morning. The sky appeared dark and gloomy without even a shimmer of sunlight. The wind hollered through the air, picking up old rotten leaves as it swept across the street. With her loose hair and open jacket, Jenny rushed into the office building, carrying a backpack in one hand and a cup of warm coffee in the other. She hurried to the nearest elevator and pressed the button, glancing anxiously at her watch every few seconds.
The elevator landed. She dashed in with a group of people and waited impatiently for it to land on the tenth floor. Before the doors fully opened, she squeezed out of the crowd and ran straight towards room C in the office, not even bothering to greet the teachers that she passed by. In the classroom, everyone was already sitting in their assigned seats and waiting for the class to begin. She hustled to her seat breathlessly when Mr.Chen, the reading teacher, walked in with his thermos cup and laptop. He wore the exact same pair of blue jeans as yesterday and had a pair of reading glasses on top of his head. He greeted the class briefly and connected his laptop to the projector as if wanting to start the lecture as soon as possible. Then, the fun began.
While he rattled about the different types of SAT reading techniques, a few of the students started dozing off. Despite her coffee, Jenny, too, was slowly dropping her head onto the desk. After the tiresome class, Jenny and her classmates proceeded with the set schedule. Tick-tock. 1 hour, 2 hours… The clock eventually hit 11:00 pm when Jenny finally finished the last set of practice questions.
I met Jenny at an SAT tutoring center during the summer of 2018; we were in the same tutoring class for two weeks. This is a typical day for students like us, who spend the majority of their free time in SAT or ACT tutoring centers taking hours-long classes, studying massive lists of vocab words, and doing practice questions to improve our SAT or ACT scores. What’s more demanding? We have to wake up earlier than the birds and go to sleep later than owls. And the next day, we do it again. * * * Over the past two decades, standardized test scores have defined success
for many people. College rankings, reported annually by the U.S. News & World Report, rely heavily on students’ average SAT and ACT scores. Scholarship programs are closely linked to standardized test scores, and some companies even consider the scores for potential hires. Moreover, students with high SAT or ACT scores are deemed “smarter” or “having higher IQs” than those with lower scores. Critics of the SAT and ACT have long asserted that these tests are biased against poor, Black, and Hispanic students and naturally in favor of wealthy, white, and Asian-American students. Students like Jenny, who can afford the considerable cost of private lessons and tutoring, are at a clear advantage.
The debates around standardized testing ultimately lead to one central question: do standardized test scores accurately reflect a student’s true ability and potential to learn? The answer has always remained controversial. In recent years, though, the global pandemic has helped expose the flaws of standardized testing to the public and bring a definite answer to the surface.
After the surge of COVID-19, many states in the U.S. have started to consider the implementation of a test-optional policy, having been granted permission by the Department of Education. In the past year, the pandemic has forced many SAT and ACT testing dates to be canceled, causing a total of 1,240 colleges and universities across the country to drop the requirement for a standardized test score, according to FairTest, a group that has pushed to end testing requirements. The test-optional policy significantly increased the number of undergraduate applications for Fall 2021. The University of California system, for example, received more than 200,000 freshman applications, a 16.1% rise from the past year. Without standardized test scores, UC admissions officers have said that they were able to evaluate students’ applications more thoroughly using other factors in the review process, such as students’ high school GPA, course selection, extracurricular activities, and awards. By putting greater focus on these other crucial factors, not only can universities have a better understanding of their applicants, but they can also expand the diversity of the student body on campuses. Overall, the test-optional policy has helped to break the mindset that students’ abilities can be measured solely by their SAT or ACT scores, leading several major universities to reconsider the role of standardized test scores in their admissions processes.
On November 18, 2021, the University of California system made a shocking decision to end the use of standardized test scores for admissions processes, making it the biggest system of universities in the U.S. to terminate the long-lasting debate around standardized testing. Michael Brown, the UC Provost, affirmed that “UC will continue to practice test-free admis-
sions now and into the future.” Due to UC’s size and global influence, this major decision is likely to impact the admissions processes of other colleges and universities. Bob Schaeffer, executive director of FairTest, said, “UC already is and increasingly will become a national model for test-free admissions.” In addition, he provided statistics showing that the number of campuses that do not require standardized test scores has increased from 1,075 two years ago to 1,815 today.
Even though the decision was a surprise, it is a win-win for future UC applicants. To start with, students can spend less time worrying and preparing for standardized tests. Unlike Jenny, who spent all of her days off in the center prepping for her upcoming SAT test, these students can instead devote more time to academic or extracurricular activities such as sports, competitions, or volunteering. This allows them to explore and find out what their passions are (studying for the SAT or ACT is definitely not one of them). Furthermore, the test-optional policy boosts minority students’ confidence when applying for high-ranking and reputable UC schools. In the past, standardized test scores have consistently served as a barrier, preventing minority applicants from standing out during the admissions process. Now, with the removal of the requirement, these students can finally demonstrate their actual strengths to the admissions committee. According to last year’s data, the University of Los Angeles (UCLA) saw a substantial increase of applications from racial minorities: 48% from African American students, 33% from Hispanic students, and 16% from American Indian students.
Standardized testing is not suitable for everyone. For Jenny, spending a tremendous amount of time in SAT tutoring classes neither helped her learn nor improved her score. Fortunately, UC’s new test-optional policy offers her and similar students an alternative method to display their real skills and passions.
All in all, students should not be defined solely by the number on their score sheets. Every student is more than their scores. Without the restraint of standardized test scores, students can better benefit from the education system and strive for a brighter and happier future.
