Higher Admissions

The Rise and Fall of Standardized Testing

By: Nicholas Lemann

Narrated by: Terrence Kidd

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's first mass higher education system—and served to promote the idea that the United States was becoming a "meritocracy." In Higher Admissions, Nicholas Lemann reflects on the state of America's aspirational meritocracy and the enduring value and meaning of standardized testing.

Lemann writes that the anticipation of the Supreme Court's 2023 decision banning affirmative action, plus the Covid pandemic, led hundreds of universities to stop requiring standardized admissions tests; now a handful of elite 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 can still take—one that emphasizes a significant upgrade of the entire higher education system. 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.

©2024 Nicholas Lemann; Commentary copyright 2024 by Patricia Gandara, Marvin Krislov, and Prudence L. Carter (P)2024 Tantor

naive views

there are good parts, I enjoyed the history of SAT part. but the overall gist is that meritocracy is entirely random and that what makes an elite degree special is what they learn there. no consideration of the effect of their strong selection. the students make Harvard, not the other way around. also completely ignores the huge data showing that IQ is correlated with socio economic class and that it isquite heritable. so finding that higher socioeconomic classes score higher in SAT test is not entirely due to "privilege". in fact, studies if test prep show it makes little difference, 20-30 points or so. so good points, but fails to add nuance to the observed correlations.