Can Meritocracy Survive Without Sat

Can Meritocracy Survive Without the SAT? Rethinking College Admissions in a Post-SAT World

Introduction:

The SAT, long a cornerstone of college admissions in the United States, has faced increasing scrutiny in recent years. Critics argue it's a biased and ineffective measure of potential, disproportionately disadvantaging low-income and minority students. With numerous colleges dropping the SAT requirement, a critical question arises: can a truly meritocratic system of higher education survive without it? This in-depth analysis will explore the complexities of this question, examining the arguments for and against the SAT's continued relevance, the potential pitfalls of a post-SAT admissions landscape, and ultimately, propose a path towards a more equitable and effective system that genuinely rewards merit.


1. The SAT: A Relic of the Past or a Necessary Evil?

The SAT's initial purpose was to provide a standardized measure of academic aptitude, supposedly leveling the playing field for students from diverse backgrounds. However, its inherent biases have been extensively documented. The test is heavily influenced by socioeconomic factors; students from wealthier families often have access to better test preparation resources, leading to a significant advantage. This creates a self-perpetuating cycle of inequality, where privileged students are more likely to score higher, gain admission to elite institutions, and subsequently enjoy greater career opportunities. Furthermore, the test's emphasis on specific skills and knowledge arguably fails to capture the breadth of human potential, neglecting creativity, critical thinking, and practical skills crucial for success in the 21st-century workforce. The question isn't merely whether the SAT is flawed; it's whether its flaws are irredeemable and whether its purported benefits outweigh its undeniable disadvantages.

2. Alternative Assessment Methods: Exploring the Landscape

The decline of the SAT's dominance has spurred exploration of alternative assessment methods. These range from holistic review processes that consider a wider range of factors (grades, extracurricular activities, essays, recommendations) to standardized tests designed to address the SAT's shortcomings. Some institutions are experimenting with competency-based assessments, focusing on demonstrated skills rather than potential. Others are prioritizing measures of character, resilience, and social-emotional learning. While each of these alternatives offers potential advantages, they also present their own challenges. Developing reliable and fair alternative assessments requires careful consideration and robust validation. The risk of replacing one form of bias with another must be carefully mitigated.

3. The Challenges of a Holistic Admissions Process:

Shifting away from the SAT towards a holistic review system presents both opportunities and challenges. While such a system can potentially be more equitable and comprehensive, it also raises concerns about fairness and consistency. Subjectivity in evaluating qualitative factors like extracurricular activities or personal essays can lead to inconsistencies in admissions decisions. This necessitates developing clear, transparent, and well-defined criteria for evaluating these factors, minimizing bias and ensuring fairness across all applicants. Furthermore, a holistic approach requires significant resources and expertise, potentially creating a burden for smaller institutions with limited staff and resources.

4. Addressing the Equity Gap: Beyond Test Scores

The move away from the SAT provides an opportunity to address the systemic inequities that have long plagued higher education. Focusing on factors beyond test scores allows for a more nuanced understanding of an applicant's potential. This includes considering socioeconomic background, access to educational resources, and life experiences. Institutions can implement affirmative action policies and targeted support programs to level the playing field for underrepresented students. However, implementing these changes requires careful consideration to ensure that such efforts are both effective and legally sound. Balancing affirmative action goals with meritocratic principles remains a complex and ongoing challenge.

5. The Future of Meritocracy in Higher Education:

The ultimate question is whether a truly meritocratic system can exist without the SAT. The answer is a complex one. While the SAT's flaws are undeniable, simply abandoning it without replacing it with a robust and equitable alternative system could inadvertently exacerbate existing inequalities. The future of meritocracy in higher education hinges on developing comprehensive and fair assessment methods that capture the full range of student abilities and potential while addressing historical and systemic biases. This requires collaboration between educators, policymakers, and researchers to create a more just and effective system that genuinely rewards merit, however it is defined. The shift away from the SAT is not simply about replacing one test with another, but about fundamentally rethinking what constitutes merit and how we assess it.


Article Outline:

Name: Rethinking College Admissions: A Post-SAT Analysis

Contents:

Introduction: The decline of the SAT and the question of meritocracy.
Chapter 1: The limitations and biases of the SAT.
Chapter 2: Alternative assessment methods and their challenges.
Chapter 3: The complexities of holistic review.
Chapter 4: Addressing equity and access in higher education.
Chapter 5: The future of merit and the evolving landscape of college admissions.
Conclusion: A call for a more equitable and holistic approach to college admissions.


(The body of the article above fulfills the content of this outline.)


9 Unique FAQs:

1. Q: Can colleges legally ignore the SAT completely? A: Yes, colleges have the autonomy to determine their admissions criteria. Many are already doing so.

2. Q: Are there any standardized tests that are better alternatives to the SAT? A: Some colleges are using the ACT, but many are moving beyond standardized tests entirely.

3. Q: How can colleges ensure fairness in holistic review processes? A: Through transparent criteria, blind review processes, and ongoing training for admissions officers.

4. Q: Will removing the SAT increase the influence of wealth in college admissions? A: It's a potential risk, but careful planning and targeted support programs can mitigate this.

5. Q: What role do extracurricular activities play in a post-SAT admissions system? A: They become a more significant factor in demonstrating skills and character.

6. Q: How can we measure “merit” fairly in higher education? A: A multifaceted approach considering academic achievements, skills, character, and background is necessary.

7. Q: What are the potential downsides of abandoning the SAT entirely? A: Potential for increased application burden on students and institutions, and difficulty in making consistent comparisons between applicants.

8. Q: Will the absence of the SAT lead to a decline in college application standards? A: Not necessarily; well-designed holistic review processes can maintain or even improve standards.

9. Q: What role should socioeconomic background play in college admissions? A: A crucial role; consideration of background is essential for fostering equity and access.


9 Related Articles:

1. The Impact of Socioeconomic Status on SAT Scores: This article delves into the correlation between socioeconomic factors and SAT performance.

2. Holistic Admissions: A Guide for Students: This article provides practical advice for students applying to colleges with holistic review processes.

3. The Ethics of Affirmative Action in Higher Education: This article examines the ethical considerations of affirmative action policies in the context of college admissions.

4. Alternative Assessment Methods: A Comparative Analysis: This article compares different alternative assessment approaches, weighing their strengths and weaknesses.

5. The Role of Extracurricular Activities in College Applications: This article explores the importance of extracurricular involvement in a holistic review context.

6. The Future of Standardized Testing in Higher Education: This article forecasts potential trends in standardized testing and college admissions.

7. Addressing Bias in College Admissions Processes: This article provides strategies for mitigating bias in various aspects of the admissions process.

8. Competency-Based Education: A New Paradigm for Higher Learning?: This article explores the potential of competency-based education to replace traditional grading systems.

9. The College Application Process: A Comprehensive Guide: This article offers a complete guide to navigating the college application process in a post-SAT world.


  can meritocracy survive without sat: The Tyranny of Merit Michael J. Sandel, 2020-09-15 A Times Literary Supplement’s Book of the Year 2020 A New Statesman's Best Book of 2020 A Bloomberg's Best Book of 2020 A Guardian Best Book About Ideas of 2020 The world-renowned philosopher and author of the bestselling Justice explores the central question of our time: What has become of the common good? These are dangerous times for democracy. We live in an age of winners and losers, where the odds are stacked in favor of the already fortunate. Stalled social mobility and entrenched inequality give the lie to the American credo that you can make it if you try. The consequence is a brew of anger and frustration that has fueled populist protest and extreme polarization, and led to deep distrust of both government and our fellow citizens--leaving us morally unprepared to face the profound challenges of our time. World-renowned philosopher Michael J. Sandel argues that to overcome the crises that are upending our world, we must rethink the attitudes toward success and failure that have accompanied globalization and rising inequality. Sandel shows the hubris a meritocracy generates among the winners and the harsh judgement it imposes on those left behind, and traces the dire consequences across a wide swath of American life. He offers an alternative way of thinking about success--more attentive to the role of luck in human affairs, more conducive to an ethic of humility and solidarity, and more affirming of the dignity of work. The Tyranny of Merit points us toward a hopeful vision of a new politics of the common good.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: The Meritocracy Trap Daniel Markovits, 2019-09-10 A revolutionary new argument from eminent Yale Law professor Daniel Markovits attacking the false promise of meritocracy It is an axiom of American life that advantage should be earned through ability and effort. Even as the country divides itself at every turn, the meritocratic ideal – that social and economic rewards should follow achievement rather than breeding – reigns supreme. Both Democrats and Republicans insistently repeat meritocratic notions. Meritocracy cuts to the heart of who we are. It sustains the American dream. But what if, both up and down the social ladder, meritocracy is a sham? Today, meritocracy has become exactly what it was conceived to resist: a mechanism for the concentration and dynastic transmission of wealth and privilege across generations. Upward mobility has become a fantasy, and the embattled middle classes are now more likely to sink into the working poor than to rise into the professional elite. At the same time, meritocracy now ensnares even those who manage to claw their way to the top, requiring rich adults to work with crushing intensity, exploiting their expensive educations in order to extract a return. All this is not the result of deviations or retreats from meritocracy but rather stems directly from meritocracy’s successes. This is the radical argument that Daniel Markovits prosecutes with rare force. Markovits is well placed to expose the sham of meritocracy. Having spent his life at elite universities, he knows from the inside the corrosive system we are trapped within. Markovits also knows that, if we understand that meritocratic inequality produces near-universal harm, we can cure it. When The Meritocracy Trap reveals the inner workings of the meritocratic machine, it also illuminates the first steps outward, towards a new world that might once again afford dignity and prosperity to the American people.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: The Big Test Nicholas Lemann, 2000-11-16 A history of the Educational Testing Service and the attempt to form an elite by sorting students, fairly and dispassionately.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: Lost in the Meritocracy Walter Kirn, 2010-06-01 A New York Times Notable Book A Daily Beast Best Book of the Year A Huffington Post Best Book of the Year From elementary school on, Walter Kirn knew how to stay at the top of his class: He clapped erasers, memorized answer keys, and parroted his teachers’ pet theories. But when he launched himself eastward to an Ivy League university, Kirn discovered that the temple of higher learning he had expected was instead just another arena for more gamesmanship, snobbery, and social climbing. In this whip-smart memoir of kissing-up, cramming, and competition, Lost in the Meritocracy reckons the costs of an educational system where the point is simply to keep accumulating points and never to look back—or within.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: The Tyranny of the Meritocracy Lani Guinier, 2016-01-12 A fresh and bold argument for revamping our standards of “merit” and a clear blueprint for creating collaborative education models that strengthen our democracy rather than privileging individual elites Standing on the foundations of America’s promise of equal opportunity, our universities purport to serve as engines of social mobility and practitioners of democracy. But as acclaimed scholar and pioneering civil rights advocate Lani Guinier argues, the merit systems that dictate the admissions practices of these institutions are functioning to select and privilege elite individuals rather than create learning communities geared to advance democratic societies. Having studied and taught at schools such as Harvard University, Yale Law School, and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Guinier has spent years examining the experiences of ethnic minorities and of women at the nation’s top institutions of higher education, and here she lays bare the practices that impede the stated missions of these schools. Goaded on by a contemporary culture that establishes value through ranking and sorting, universities assess applicants using the vocabulary of private, highly individualized merit. As a result of private merit standards and ever-increasing tuitions, our colleges and universities increasingly are failing in their mission to provide educational opportunity and to prepare students for productive and engaged citizenship. To reclaim higher education as a cornerstone of democracy, Guinier argues that institutions of higher learning must focus on admitting and educating a class of students who will be critical thinkers, active citizens, and publicly spirited leaders. Guinier presents a plan for considering “democratic merit,” a system that measures the success of higher education not by the personal qualities of the students who enter but by the work and service performed by the graduates who leave. Guinier goes on to offer vivid examples of communities that have developed effective learning strategies based not on an individual’s “merit” but on the collaborative strength of a group, learning and working together, supporting members, and evolving into powerful collectives. Examples are taken from across the country and include a wide range of approaches, each innovative and effective. Guinier argues for reformation, not only of the very premises of admissions practices but of the shape of higher education itself.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations Jules Evans, 2013-10-03 When philosophy rescued him from an emotional crisis, Jules Evans became fascinated by how ideas invented over two thousand years ago can help us today. He interviewed soldiers, psychologists, gangsters, astronauts, and anarchists and discovered the ways that people are using philosophy now to build better lives. Ancient philosophy has inspired modern communities — Socratic cafés, Stoic armies, Epicurean communes — and even whole nations in the quest for the good life. This book is an invitation to a dream school with a rowdy faculty that includes twelve of the greatest philosophers from the ancient world, sharing their lessons on happiness, resilience, and much more. Lively and inspiring, this is philosophy for the street, for the workplace, for the battlefield, for love, for life.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: Twilight of the Elites Christopher Hayes, 2012 Analyzes scandals in high-profile institutions, from Wall Street and the Catholic Church to corporate America and Major League Baseball, while evaluating how an elite American meritocracy rose throughout the past half-century before succumbing to unprecedented levels of corruption and failure. 75,000 first printing.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: Ain't No Makin' It Jay MacLeod, 2018-03-09 This classic text addresses one of the most important issues in modern social theory and policy: how social inequality is reproduced from one generation to the next. With the original 1987 publication of Ain't No Makin' It, Jay MacLeod brought us to the Clarendon Heights housing project where we met the 'Brothers' and the 'Hallway Hangers'. Their story of poverty, race, and defeatism moved readers and challenged ethnic stereotypes. MacLeod's return eight years later, and the resulting 1995 revision, revealed little improvement in the lives of these men as they struggled in the labor market and crime-ridden underground economy. The third edition of this classic ethnography of social reproduction brings the story of inequality and social mobility into today's dialogue. Now fully updated with thirteen new interviews from the original Hallway Hangers and Brothers, as well as new theoretical analysis and comparison to the original conclusions, Ain't No Makin' It remains an admired and invaluable text.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: The Merit Myth Anthony P. Carnevale, Peter Schmidt, Jeff Strohl, 2020-05-19 An eye-opening and timely look at how colleges drive the very inequalities they are meant to remedy, complete with a call—and a vision—for change Colleges fiercely defend America's deeply stratified higher education system, arguing that the most exclusive schools reward the brightest kids who have worked hard to get there. But it doesn't actually work this way. As the recent college-admissions bribery scandal demonstrates, social inequalities and colleges' pursuit of wealth and prestige stack the deck in favor of the children of privilege. For education scholar and critic Anthony P. Carnevale, it's clear that colleges are not the places of aspiration and equal opportunity they claim to be. The Merit Myth calls out our elite colleges for what they are: institutions that pay lip service to social mobility and meritocracy, while offering little of either. Through policies that exacerbate inequality, including generously funding so-called merit-based aid for already-wealthy students rather than expanding opportunity for those who need it most, U.S. universities—the presumed pathway to a better financial future—are woefully complicit in reproducing the racial and class privilege across generations that they pretend to abhor. This timely and incisive book argues for unrigging the game by dramatically reducing the weight of the SAT/ACT; measuring colleges by their outcomes, not their inputs; designing affirmative action plans that take into consideration both race and class; and making 14 the new 12—guaranteeing every American a public K–14 education. The Merit Myth shows the way for higher education to become the beacon of opportunity it was intended to be.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: Excellent Sheep William Deresiewicz, 2014-08-19 A groundbreaking manifesto about what our nation’s top schools should be—but aren’t—providing: “The ex-Yale professor effectively skewers elite colleges, their brainy but soulless students (those ‘sheep’), pushy parents, and admissions mayhem” (People). As a professor at Yale, William Deresiewicz saw something that troubled him deeply. His students, some of the nation’s brightest minds, were adrift when it came to the big questions: how to think critically and creatively and how to find a sense of purpose. Now he argues that elite colleges are turning out conformists without a compass. Excellent Sheep takes a sharp look at the high-pressure conveyor belt that begins with parents and counselors who demand perfect grades and culminates in the skewed applications Deresiewicz saw firsthand as a member of Yale’s admissions committee. As schools shift focus from the humanities to “practical” subjects like economics, students are losing the ability to think independently. It is essential, says Deresiewicz, that college be a time for self-discovery when students can establish their own values and measures of success in order to forge their own paths. He features quotes from real students and graduates he has corresponded with over the years, candidly exposing where the system is broken and offering clear solutions on how to fix it. “Excellent Sheep is likely to make…a lasting mark….He takes aim at just about the entirety of upper-middle-class life in America….Mr. Deresiewicz’s book is packed full of what he wants more of in American life: passionate weirdness” (The New York Times).
  can meritocracy survive without sat: The Second Mountain David Brooks, 2019-04-16 NO.1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE SOCIAL ANIMAL Are you on your first or second mountain? Is life about you - or others? About success - or something deeper? The world tells us that we should pursue our self-interest: career wins, high status, nice things. These are the goals of our first mountain. But at some point in our lives we might find that we're not interested in what other people tell us to want. We want the things that are truly worth wanting. This is the second mountain. What does it mean to look beyond yourself and find a moral cause? To forget about independence and discover dependence - to be utterly enmeshed in a web of warm relationships? What does it mean to value intimacy, devotion, responsibility and commitment above individual freedom? In The Second Mountain David Brooks explores the meaning and possibilities that scaling a second mountain offer us and the four commitments that most commonly move us there: family, vocation, philosophy and community. Inspiring, personal and full of joy, this book will help you discover why you were really put on this earth.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: Two Cheers for Higher Education Steven Brint, 2018 Focusing on the years 1980-2015, Brint details the trajectory of American universities, which was influenced by evolving standards of disciplinary professionalism, market-driven partnerships, and the goal of social inclusion.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: The Case against Perfection Michael J Sandel, 2009-06-30 Breakthroughs in genetics present us with a promise and a predicament. The promise is that we will soon be able to treat and prevent a host of debilitating diseases. The predicament is that our newfound genetic knowledge may enable us to manipulate our nature—to enhance our genetic traits and those of our children. Although most people find at least some forms of genetic engineering disquieting, it is not easy to articulate why. What is wrong with re-engineering our nature? The Case against Perfection explores these and other moral quandaries connected with the quest to perfect ourselves and our children. Michael Sandel argues that the pursuit of perfection is flawed for reasons that go beyond safety and fairness. The drive to enhance human nature through genetic technologies is objectionable because it represents a bid for mastery and dominion that fails to appreciate the gifted character of human powers and achievements. Carrying us beyond familiar terms of political discourse, this book contends that the genetic revolution will change the way philosophers discuss ethics and will force spiritual questions back onto the political agenda. In order to grapple with the ethics of enhancement, we need to confront questions largely lost from view in the modern world. Since these questions verge on theology, modern philosophers and political theorists tend to shrink from them. But our new powers of biotechnology make these questions unavoidable. Addressing them is the task of this book, by one of America’s preeminent moral and political thinkers.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: The Diversity Bargain Natasha K. Warikoo, 2016-11-15 We’ve heard plenty from politicians and experts on affirmative action and higher education, about how universities should intervene—if at all—to ensure a diverse but deserving student population. But what about those for whom these issues matter the most? In this book, Natasha K. Warikoo deeply explores how students themselves think about merit and race at a uniquely pivotal moment: after they have just won the most competitive game of their lives and gained admittance to one of the world’s top universities. What Warikoo uncovers—talking with both white students and students of color at Harvard, Brown, and Oxford—is absolutely illuminating; and some of it is positively shocking. As she shows, many elite white students understand the value of diversity abstractly, but they ignore the real problems that racial inequality causes and that diversity programs are meant to solve. They stand in fear of being labeled a racist, but they are quick to call foul should a diversity program appear at all to hamper their own chances for advancement. The most troubling result of this ambivalence is what she calls the “diversity bargain,” in which white students reluctantly agree with affirmative action as long as it benefits them by providing a diverse learning environment—racial diversity, in this way, is a commodity, a selling point on a brochure. And as Warikoo shows, universities play a big part in creating these situations. The way they talk about race on campus and the kinds of diversity programs they offer have a huge impact on student attitudes, shaping them either toward ambivalence or, in better cases, toward more productive and considerate understandings of racial difference. Ultimately, this book demonstrates just how slippery the notions of race, merit, and privilege can be. In doing so, it asks important questions not just about college admissions but what the elite students who have succeeded at it—who will be the world’s future leaders—will do with the social inequalities of the wider world.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: The Myth of American Meritocracy and Other Essays Ron Unz, 2016-03-01
  can meritocracy survive without sat: Making the Team Timothy Morris, 1997 He concludes with a chapter that asks, What does it mean to be 'literary'? What distinguishes high art from a baseball novel, or a mystery, or a romance novel, or pornography? Making the Team suggests that drawing the line may be a more vital concern - not just for scholars, but for Americans at large - than anything critics have argued about for a very long time.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: The Chosen Jerome Karabel, 2005 Drawing on decades of research, Karabel shines a light on the ever-changing definition of merit in college admissions, showing how it shaped--and was shaped by--the country at large.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: The Price of Admission (Updated Edition) Daniel Golden, 2009-01-21 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “A fire-breathing, righteous attack on the culture of superprivilege.”—Michael Wolff, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Fire and Fury, in the New York Times Book Review NOW WITH NEW REPORTING ON OPERATION VARSITY BLUES In this explosive and prescient book, based on three years of investigative report­ing, Pulitzer Prize winner Daniel Golden shatters the myth of an American meri­tocracy. Naming names, along with grades and test scores, Golden lays bare a corrupt system in which middle-class and working-class whites and Asian Ameri­cans are routinely passed over in favor of wealthy white students with lesser credentials—children of alumni, big donors, and celebrities. He reveals how a family donation got Jared Kushner into Harvard, and how colleges comply with Title IX by giving scholarships to rich women in “patrician sports” like horseback riding and crew. With a riveting new chapter on Operation Varsity Blues, based on original re­porting, The Price of Admission is a must-read—not only for parents and students with a personal stake in college admissions but also for those disturbed by the growing divide between ordinary and privileged Americans. Praise for The Price of Admission “A disturbing exposé of the influence that wealth and power still exert on admission to the nation’s most prestigious universities.”—The Washington Post “Deserves to become a classic.”—The Economist
  can meritocracy survive without sat: The Years that Matter Most Paul Tough, 2019 The bestselling author of How Children Succeed returns with a devastatingly powerful, mind-changing inquiry into higher education in the U.S.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: From Black Power to Black Studies Fabio Rojas, 2010-09-01 The black power movement helped redefine African Americans' identity and establish a new racial consciousness in the 1960s. As an influential political force, this movement in turn spawned the academic discipline known as Black Studies. Today there are more than a hundred Black Studies degree programs in the United States, many of them located in America’s elite research institutions. In From Black Power to Black Studies, Fabio Rojas explores how this radical social movement evolved into a recognized academic discipline. Rojas traces the evolution of Black Studies over more than three decades, beginning with its origins in black nationalist politics. His account includes the 1968 Third World Strike at San Francisco State College, the Ford Foundation’s attempts to shape the field, and a description of Black Studies programs at various American universities. His statistical analyses of protest data illuminate how violent and nonviolent protests influenced the establishment of Black Studies programs. Integrating personal interviews and newly discovered archival material, Rojas documents how social activism can bring about organizational change. Shedding light on the black power movement, Black Studies programs, and American higher education, this historical analysis reveals how radical politics are assimilated into the university system.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: To Change the Church Ross Douthat, 2019-03-19 A New York Times columnist and one of America’s leading conservative thinkers considers Pope Francis’s efforts to change the church he governs in a book that is “must reading for every Christian who cares about the fate of the West and the future of global Christianity” (Rod Dreher, author of The Benedict Option). Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 1936, today Pope Francis is the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Francis’s stewardship of the Church, while perceived as a revelation by many, has provoked division throughout the world. “If a conclave were to be held today,” one Roman source told The New Yorker, “Francis would be lucky to get ten votes.” In his “concise, rhetorically agile…adroit, perceptive, gripping account (The New York Times Book Review), Ross Douthat explains why the particular debate Francis has opened—over communion for the divorced and the remarried—is so dangerous: How it cuts to the heart of the larger argument over how Christianity should respond to the sexual revolution and modernity itself, how it promises or threatens to separate the church from its own deep past, and how it divides Catholicism along geographical and cultural lines. Douthat argues that the Francis era is a crucial experiment for all of Western civilization, which is facing resurgent external enemies (from ISIS to Putin) even as it struggles with its own internal divisions, its decadence, and self-doubt. Whether Francis or his critics are right won’t just determine whether he ends up as a hero or a tragic figure for Catholics. It will determine whether he’s a hero, or a gambler who’s betraying both his church and his civilization into the hands of its enemies. “A balanced look at the struggle for the future of Catholicism…To Change the Church is a fascinating look at the church under Pope Francis” (Kirkus Reviews). Engaging and provocative, this is “a pot-boiler of a history that examines a growing ecclesial crisis” (Washington Independent Review of Books).
  can meritocracy survive without sat: Unacceptable Melissa Korn, Jennifer Levitz, 2020-07-21 FORBES TOP 10 HIGHER EDUCATION BOOKS OF 2020 The riveting true story behind the Varsity Blues college admissions scandal, a cautionary tale of parenting gone wrong, the system that enabled families to veer so far off course, and the mastermind who made it all happen. When federal prosecutors dropped the bombshell of Operation Varsity Blues, it broke open the crimes of exclusive universities and wealthy families all over the country, shattering the myth of American meritocracy. In Unacceptable, veteran Wall Street Journal reporters Melissa Korn and Jennifer Levitz dig deep into how otherwise smart, loving parents became caught up in scandal, led through the side door by one man: college whisperer Rick Singer. Unacceptable traces how, over decades, the charismatic Singer easily reeled in parents hoping to guarantee top educations for their children, and exploited a system rigged against regular people. Exploring the status obsession that seduced entitled parents in search of an edge, Korn and Levitz unfurl a scheme that entangled more than fifty conspirators, from wealthy CEOs to famous actresses, leading to imprisonments, ruined careers, and terminated enrollments. An eye-opening account of corruption in America’s most exclusive institutions, Unacceptable tells the story of helicopter parenting, coddled teens, and the man who thought he couldn’t be caught. Detailing Singer’s steady rise and dramatic fall, Korn and Levitz expose the ugly underbelly of elite college admissions, and the devastating consequences of buying success.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: Tearing Down the Gates Peter Sacks, 2007-05-29 We often hear about the growing divide between rich and poor in America. This compelling exposé, backed by up-to-date research, locates the source of this trend where we might least expect to find it—in our schools. Written for a wide audience, Tearing Down the Gates is a powerful indictment of American education that shows how schools, colleges, and universities exacerbate inequality by providing ample opportunities for advantaged students while shutting the gates on the poor—and even the middle class. Peter Sacks tells the stories of young people and families as they struggle to negotiate the educational system. He introduces students like Ashlea, who grew up in a trailer park and who would like to attend college, though she faces constant obstacles that many of her more privileged classmates can't imagine. Woven throughout with voices of Americans both rich and poor, Tearing Down the Gates describes a disturbing situation that has the potential to undermine the American dream, not just for some, but for all of us. At the heart of this book is a question of justice, and Sacks demands that we take a hard look at what equal opportunity really means in the United States today.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: Who Gets In and Why Jeffrey Selingo, 2020-09-15 From award-winning higher education journalist and New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Selingo comes a revealing look from inside the admissions office—one that identifies surprising strategies that will aid in the college search. Getting into a top-ranked college has never seemed more impossible, with acceptance rates at some elite universities dipping into the single digits. In Who Gets In and Why, journalist and higher education expert Jeffrey Selingo dispels entrenched notions of how to compete and win at the admissions game, and reveals that teenagers and parents have much to gain by broadening their notion of what qualifies as a “good college.” Hint: it’s not all about the sticker on the car window. Selingo, who was embedded in three different admissions offices—a selective private university, a leading liberal arts college, and a flagship public campus—closely observed gatekeepers as they made their often agonizing and sometimes life-changing decisions. He also followed select students and their parents, and he traveled around the country meeting with high school counselors, marketers, behind-the-scenes consultants, and college rankers. While many have long believed that admissions is merit-based, rewarding the best students, Who Gets In and Why presents a more complicated truth, showing that “who gets in” is frequently more about the college’s agenda than the applicant. In a world where thousands of equally qualified students vie for a fixed number of spots at elite institutions, admissions officers often make split-second decisions based on a variety of factors—like diversity, money, and, ultimately, whether a student will enroll if accepted. One of the most insightful books ever about “getting in” and what higher education has become, Who Gets In and Why not only provides an unusually intimate look at how admissions decisions get made, but guides prospective students on how to honestly assess their strengths and match with the schools that will best serve their interests.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: Whiteshift Eric Kaufmann, 2019-02-05 “This ambitious and provocative work . . . delves into white anxiety about the demographic decline of white populations in Western nations” (Publishers Weekly). “Whiteshift” is defined as the turbulent journey from a world of racially homogeneous white majorities to one of racially hybrid majorities. In this dada-driven study, political scientist Eric Kaufmann explores how these demographic changes across Western societies are transforming their politics. The early stages of this transformation have led to a populist disruption, tearing a path through the usual politics of left and right. If we want to avoid more radical political divisions, Kaufmann argues, we have to enable white conservatives as well as cosmopolitans to view whiteshift as a positive development. Kaufmann examines the evidence to explore ethnic change in North American and Western Europe. Tracing four ways of dealing with this transformation—fight, repress, flight, and join—he makes a persuasive call to move beyond empty talk about national identity. Deeply thought provoking, enriched with illustrative stories, and drawing on detailed and extraordinary survey, demographic, and electoral data, Whiteshift will redefine the way we discuss race in the twenty-first century.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: The Graduate School Mess Leonard Cassuto, 2015-09-14 American graduate education is in disarray. Graduate study in the humanities takes too long and those who succeed face a dismal academic job market. Leonard Cassuto gives practical advice about how faculty can teach and advise students so that they are prepared for the demands of the working worlds they will join, inside and outside the academy.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: Inheriting Possibility Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román, 2017-08-01 How has the dominant social scientific paradigm limited our understanding of the impact of inherited economic resources, social privilege, and sociocultural practices on multigenerational inequality? In what ways might multiple forces of social difference haunt quantitative measurements of ability such as the SAT? Building on new materialist philosophy, Inheriting Possibility rethinks methods of quantification and theories of social reproduction in education, demonstrating that test performance results and parenting practices convey the impact of materially and historically contingent patterns of differential possibility. Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román explores the dualism of nature and culture that has undergirded theories of inheritance, social reproduction, and human learning and development. Research and debate on the reproduction of power relations have rested on a premise that nature is made up of fixed universals on which the creative, intellective, and discursive play of culture are based. Drawing on recent work in the physical and biological sciences, Dixon-Román argues that nature is culture. He contends that by assuming a rigid nature/culture binary, we ultimately limit our understanding of how power relations are reproduced. Through innovative analyses of empirical data and cultural artifacts, Dixon-Román boldly reconsiders how we conceptualize the processes of inheritance and approach social inquiry in order to profoundly sharpen understanding and address the reproducing forces of inequality.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: The 9.9 Percent Matthew Stewart, 2021-10-12 A “brilliant” (The Washington Post), “clear-eyed and incisive” (The New Republic) analysis of how the wealthiest group in American society is making life miserable for everyone—including themselves. In 21st-century America, the top 0.1% of the wealth distribution have walked away with the big prizes even while the bottom 90% have lost ground. What’s left of the American Dream has taken refuge in the 9.9% that lies just below the tip of extreme wealth. Collectively, the members of this group control more than half of the wealth in the country—and they are doing whatever it takes to hang on to their piece of the action in an increasingly unjust system. They log insane hours at the office and then turn their leisure time into an excuse for more career-building, even as they rely on an underpaid servant class to power their economic success and satisfy their personal needs. They have segregated themselves into zip codes designed to exclude as many people as possible. They have made fitness a national obsession even as swaths of the population lose healthcare and grow sicker. They have created an unprecedented demand for admission to elite schools and helped to fuel the dramatic cost of higher education. They channel their political energy into symbolic conflicts over identity in order to avoid acknowledging the economic roots of their privilege. And they have created an ethos of “merit” to justify their advantages. They are all around us. In fact, they are us—or what we are supposed to want to be. In this “captivating account” (Robert D. Putnam, author of Bowling Alone), Matthew Stewart argues that a new aristocracy is emerging in American society and it is repeating the mistakes of history. It is entrenching inequality, warping our culture, eroding democracy, and transforming an abundant economy into a source of misery. He calls for a regrounding of American culture and politics on a foundation closer to the original promise of America.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: The Power of Privilege Joseph A. Soares, 2007 An examination of why acceptance into America's most prestigious colleges remains beyond the reach of most students except those from high-income professional families.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: The Inequality Machine Paul Tough, 2019-09-10 First published as The Years That Matter Most From best-selling author Paul Tough, an indelible and explosive book on the glaring injustices of higher education, including unfair admissions tests, entrenched racial barriers, and crushing student debt. Now updated and expanded for the pandemic era. When higher education works the way it’s supposed to, there is no better tool for social mobility—for lifting young people out of challenging circumstances and into the middle class and beyond. In reality, though, American colleges and universities have become the ultimate tool of social immobility—a system that secures a comfortable future for the children of the wealthy while throwing roadblocks in the way of students from struggling families. Combining vivid and powerful personal stories with deep, authoritative reporting, Paul Tough explains how we got into this mess and explores the innovative reforms that might get us out. Tough examines the systemic racism that pervades American higher education, shows exactly how the SATs give an unfair advantage to wealthy students, and guides readers from Ivy League seminar rooms to the welding shop at a rural community college. At every stop, he introduces us to young Americans yearning for a better life—and praying that a college education might help them get there. With a new preface and afterword by the author exposing how the coronavirus pandemic has shaken the higher education system anew.​
  can meritocracy survive without sat: Standardized Minds Peter Sacks, 2001-01-10 Standardized Minds dramatically shows how an unhealthy and enduring obsession with intelligence testing affects everyone. Drawing creative solutions from the headlines and front lines, Sacks demonstrates proven alternatives to such testing, and details a plan to make the American meritocracy legitimate and fair.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: Rethinking the SAT Rebecca Zwick, 2013-04-15 Rethinking the SAT is a unique presentation of the latest thoughts and research findings of key individuals in the world of college admissions, including the president of the largest public university system in the U.S., as well as the presidents of the two companies that sponsor college admissions tests in the U.S. The contributors address not only the pros and cons of the SAT itself, but the broader question of who should go to college in the twenty-first century.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: The Meritocracy Quartet Jeffrey Lewis, 2015-03-15 Acclaimed writer Jeffrey Lewis is known for his deft portrayals of relatable figures from all walks of life. In The Meritocracy Quartet, his four interlinking novels—Meritocracy: A Love Story, The Conference of the Birds, Theme Song for an Old Show, and Adam the King—have been brought together for the first time into a single volume. Set against the backdrop of the changing American landscape over four decades, The Meritocracy Quartet is a testament to the country’s evolving personality. The quartet follows Louie, a Yale graduate from a modest background with a gift for forging connections in high and low places. Beginning in the 1960s, as he documents a going-away party for a fellow Yalie on his way to Vietnam, and continuing through his spiritual encounters with a 1970s group of city misfits, his turn to television writing in the 1980s, and a tragic love story between two of his close friends in the 1990s, Louie chronicles not only his own personal struggles—his silent love for his best friend’s girl, his delicate relationship with an at-times absent father—but also the attitudes, events, and people that marked his generation. From the Vietnam War to George W. Bush, from television trends to the divide between the haves and have-nots, The Meritocracy Quartet is a moving witness to everything America had to offer in the latter portion of the twentieth century.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: SAT Wars Joseph A. Soares, 2015-04-17 What can a college admissions officer safely predict about the future of a 17-year-old? Are the best and the brightest students the ones who can check off the most correct boxes on a multiple-choice exam? Or are there better ways of measuring ability and promise? In this penetrating and revealing look at high-stakes standardized admissions tests, Joseph Soares demonstrates the far-reaching and mostly negative impact of the tests on American life and calls for nothing less than a national policy change. SAT Wars presents a roadmap for rethinking college admissions that moves us past the statistically weak and socially divisive SAT/ACT. The author advocates for evaluation tools with a greater focus on what youth actually accomplish in high school as a more reliable indicator of qualities that really matter in one's life and to one's ability to contribute to society. This up-to-date book features contributions by well-known experts, including a piece from Daniel Golden, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting in the Wall Street Journal on admissions, and a chapter on alternative tests from Robert Sternberg, who is the worlds most-cited living authority on educational research. As we continue to debate the use and misuse of standardized testing, SAT Wars will be important reading for a wide audience, including college administrators and faculty, high school guidance counselors, education journalists, and parents.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: College Admissions and the Public Interest Brainerd Alden Thresher, 1989
  can meritocracy survive without sat: Designing the New American University Michael M. Crow, William B. Dabars, 2015-03-15 A radical blueprint for reinventing American higher education. America’s research universities consistently dominate global rankings but may be entrenched in a model that no longer accomplishes their purposes. With their multiple roles of discovery, teaching, and public service, these institutions represent the gold standard in American higher education, but their evolution since the nineteenth century has been only incremental. The need for a new and complementary model that offers broader accessibility to an academic platform underpinned by knowledge production is critical to our well-being and economic competitiveness. Michael M. Crow, president of Arizona State University and an outspoken advocate for reinventing the public research university, conceived the New American University model when he moved from Columbia University to Arizona State in 2002. Following a comprehensive reconceptualization spanning more than a decade, ASU has emerged as an international academic and research powerhouse that serves as the foundational prototype for the new model. Crow has led the transformation of ASU into an egalitarian institution committed to academic excellence, inclusiveness to a broad demographic, and maximum societal impact. In Designing the New American University, Crow and coauthor William B. Dabars—a historian whose research focus is the American research university—examine the emergence of this set of institutions and the imperative for the new model, the tenets of which may be adapted by colleges and universities, both public and private. Through institutional innovation, say Crow and Dabars, universities are apt to realize unique and differentiated identities, which maximize their potential to generate the ideas, products, and processes that impact quality of life, standard of living, and national economic competitiveness. Designing the New American University will ignite a national discussion about the future evolution of the American research university.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be Frank Bruni, 2015-03-17 Read award-winning journalist Frank Bruni's New York Times bestseller: an inspiring manifesto about everything wrong with today's frenzied college admissions process and how to make the most of your college years. Over the last few decades, Americans have turned college admissions into a terrifying and occasionally devastating process, preceded by test prep, tutors, all sorts of stratagems, all kinds of rankings, and a conviction among too many young people that their futures will be determined and their worth established by which schools say yes and which say no. In Where You Go is Not Who You'll Be, Frank Bruni explains why this mindset is wrong, giving students and their parents a new perspective on this brutal, deeply flawed competition and a path out of the anxiety that it provokes. Bruni, a bestselling author and a columnist for the New York Times, shows that the Ivy League has no monopoly on corner offices, governors' mansions, or the most prestigious academic and scientific grants. Through statistics, surveys, and the stories of hugely successful people, he demonstrates that many kinds of colleges serve as ideal springboards. And he illuminates how to make the most of them. What matters in the end are students' efforts in and out of the classroom, not the name on their diploma. Where you go isn't who you'll be. Americans need to hear that--and this indispensable manifesto says it with eloquence and respect for the real promise of higher education.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: Guilty Admissions Nicole LaPorte, 2021-02-23 This entertaining exposé on how the other half gets in tells the shockingly true story of the Varsity Blues scandal, and all of the crazy parents, privilege, and con men involved. Guilty Admissions weaves together the story of an unscrupulous college counselor named Rick Singer, and how he preyed on the desperation of some of the country's wealthiest families living in a world defined by fierce competition, who function under constant pressure to get into the right schools, starting with pre-school; non-stop fundraising and donation demands in the form of multi-million-dollar galas and private parties; and a community of deeply insecure parents who will do anything to get their kids into name-brand colleges in order to maintain their own A-list status. Investigative reporter Nicole LaPorte lays bare the source of this insecurity—that in 2019, no special hook in the form of legacy status, athletic talent, or financial giving can guarantee a child's entrance into an elite school. The result is paranoia, deception, and true crimes at the peak of the American social pyramid. With a glittering cast of Hollywood actors—including Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin—hedge fund CEOs, sales executives, and media titans, Guilty Admissions is a soap-opera-slash-sneak-peek-behind-the-curtains at America's richest social circles; an examination of the cutthroat world of college admissions; and a parable of American society in 2019, when the country is run by a crass tycoon and all totems of status and achievement have become transactional and removed from traditions of ethical restraint. A world where the rich get whatever they want, however they want it.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: The Aristocracy of Talent Adrian Wooldridge, 2021-07-13 The Times (UK) book of the year! Meritocracy: the idea that people should be advanced according to their talents rather than their birth. While this initially seemed like a novel concept, by the end of the twentieth century it had become the world's ruling ideology. How did this happen, and why is meritocracy now under attack from both right and left? In The Aristocracy of Talent, esteemed journalist and historian Adrian Wooldridge traces the history of meritocracy forged by the politicians and officials who introduced the revolutionary principle of open competition, the psychologists who devised methods for measuring natural mental abilities, and the educationalists who built ladders of educational opportunity. He looks outside western cultures and shows what transformative effects it has had everywhere it has been adopted, especially once women were brought into the meritocratic system. Wooldridge also shows how meritocracy has now become corrupted and argues that the recent stalling of social mobility is the result of failure to complete the meritocratic revolution. Rather than abandoning meritocracy, he says, we should call for its renewal.
  can meritocracy survive without sat: Measuring Success Jack Buckley, Lynn Letukas, Ben Wildavsky, 2018-01-15 Once touted as the single best way to measure students from diverse backgrounds, schools, and experiences, standardized college admissions tests are now criticized for being hopelessly biased in favor of traditionally privileged groups. Out of this has emerged the test-optional movement that seeks to allow students to apply to schools without sitting through the rigors of the SAT. This book takes a step back and applies rigorous empirical measurements to these rival claims. Drawing upon the expertise of higher education researchers, admissions officers, enrollment managers, and policy professionals, this edited volume is among the first to investigate the research and policy implications of test-optional practices. It was conceived in response to the editors' frustration with the fragmented and incomplete state of the literature around the contemporary debate on college admissions testing. Many students, teachers, parents, policymakers--frankly, nearly anyone immediately outside the testing industry and college admissions--have little understanding of how admissions tests are used. This lack of transparency has often fueled beliefs that college assessments are biased, misused, or overused. Decades of research on various aspects of testing, such as the predictive validity of assessments, makes a compelling case for their value. But all-too-frequently researchers and admissions officers talk past one another instead of engaging substantively. This collection intends to remedy the situation by bringing these disparate voices together. This book is designed for provosts, enrollment managers, and college admissions officers seeking to strike the proper balance between uniformity and fairness--