This important point reaches far beyond your own experience. Unless we think that college admission should be by lottery (which is a different issue), colleges need some information to base their decisions on. I'm a high school teacher, and I'm not sure people appreciate how little grades mean. What earns a student an A in a given course…
This important point reaches far beyond your own experience. Unless we think that college admission should be by lottery (which is a different issue), colleges need some information to base their decisions on. I'm a high school teacher, and I'm not sure people appreciate how little grades mean. What earns a student an A in a given course can range widely from teacher to teacher within a school, never mind between schools. Some schools allow anyone who wants to to take honors and AP classes, while other schools guard the gates to those courses. The transcripts, therefore, do not tell colleges much. Extracurriculars, essays, and recommendations are much easier for wealthy families to game than the SATs. Yes, a tutor may help a student a bit, but if the Lori Loughlin example shows us anything, it's that all the money in the world can't necessarily help a student earn the score they want without outright cheating. Standardized tests were designed to even the playing field, and, imperfect though they are, they are still the best tool we have to truly distinguish students from each other.
This important point reaches far beyond your own experience. Unless we think that college admission should be by lottery (which is a different issue), colleges need some information to base their decisions on. I'm a high school teacher, and I'm not sure people appreciate how little grades mean. What earns a student an A in a given course can range widely from teacher to teacher within a school, never mind between schools. Some schools allow anyone who wants to to take honors and AP classes, while other schools guard the gates to those courses. The transcripts, therefore, do not tell colleges much. Extracurriculars, essays, and recommendations are much easier for wealthy families to game than the SATs. Yes, a tutor may help a student a bit, but if the Lori Loughlin example shows us anything, it's that all the money in the world can't necessarily help a student earn the score they want without outright cheating. Standardized tests were designed to even the playing field, and, imperfect though they are, they are still the best tool we have to truly distinguish students from each other.