The SAT isn’t racist — but woke activists sure are

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Key points

• John Stossel is the author of "Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media."
• After tests supported Jews secure into college in the 1920s, Harvard even reduced focus on tests – to "prevent a dangerous increase in the proportion of Jews."
• Jason Riley of the Wall Street Journal points out that dropping the test created it easier for colleges to do to Asians what they once did to Jews.
• University of California, Berkeley mathematics professor Zvezdelina Stankova notes some students "are five to eight years behind in mathematics."
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez now calls it, "antiracists" remarked the SAT's creators "were avowed eugenicists." No wonder black residents obtain lower scores, went the claim.

See more of our coverage in your search results. Add The New York Post on Google. Did you know that the SAT is racist?

As Rep, during Woke I. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez now calls it, "antiracists" remarked the SAT's creators "were avowed eugenicists." No wonder black residents obtain lower scores, went the claim.

And even if the test isn't racist today, woke activists remarked, it still gives unfair advantages to white kids as their parents are more probable to afford SAT tutoring.

As anti-SAT ads from activist groups like FairTest put it: "Real learning is not standardized, so why judge children just by test scores?" Most colleges halted requiring the test for admissions.

That was ironic, given that standardized tests once brought students from underrepresented groups into colleges.

I confronted FairTest's executive director, Bob Schaeffer, and observed that SATs are the best predictor of whether a kid will thrive in college. He scoffed at that, saying testing firms just want capital.

"The College Board is a billion-dollar-a-year business, " he remarked, "like the tobacco industry – giving you the best spin on what they can do."

I pushed back: "If you're a Latino immigrant who goes to a lousy high school but you test well, you've got a shot."

"There are actually very few examples of that being true, " he replied.

College Board data demonstrates students with C+ grades but great SAT scores do better in college than A+ students with lower SAT scores. Better test scores do strongly predict success.

Nevertheless, during Woke I, cowardly college administrators did what progressives informed them to do.

Jason Riley of the Wall Street Journal points out that dropping the test created it easier for colleges to do to Asians what they once did to Jews. Obtain opinions and commentary from our columnists.

Today, It's Asian parents who most emphasize learning and who are most probable to produce their kids study. But colleges don't want "too many" Asians.

"It's about making these campuses look right, using them to make your college catalog look more colorful, " Riley informed me. "It's about aesthetics, not about learning."

Not using tests did create it easier for schools to admit more blacks and Latinos.

"There's this assumption: Just get these kids in the door and they'll be fine, " complained Riley, who is black. "They're being set up to fail."

"I see no progress in getting a bunch of black kids admitted to MIT and then having them flunk out or struggle when they don't need to be struggling because they could be going to another school and doing quite well and actually graduate, " he explained.

"Eliminate the test, you're just going to delay where it demonstrates up elsewhere in this child's life. You're not doing that child any favor."

But woke educators cared more regarding pleasing progressive activists than concerning students' success.

Now, five years afterwards, colleges finally acknowledge that they produced a mistake. Every Ivy League school is bringing back standardized testing. They finally admit what the data always indicated: Tests are useful.

And it's cruel and stupid that for years, colleges offered in to woke activists.

In short, the SAT isn't racist is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.