Suing the UC's

Today, a group of students are suing the University of California system (UC's) saying that the usage of SAT and ACT scores are discriminatory. They are arguing that by requiring students to submit their scores, it's a disadvantage to low income students who may not be able to afford to do that. They say it's a violation of state civil rights laws. The group of students are calling for UC schools to no longer require ACT and SAT test scores unless they can prove that test scores are considered "rigorous and meaningful, transparent, nondiscriminatory and non stigmatizing manner." Over the past couple of years, many colleges have already taken that step to not require standardized test scores. But this is mainly because they want to consider the students who are applying more as a whole. They wish to de-emphasize the important of test scores. In some ways, this is great because it puts a lot of pressure off of already stressed high school students. But on the other hand, it makes it much harder for students to figure out what qualifies as a "good" student for that specific school. As seniors, we are all already deep into the college admission process and understand how beneficial it can be to remove test scores. It would maker our junior years somewhat more bearable. Overall, I think a better solution to solve this discriminatory case is find a way to make the tests cheaper/free. CollegeBoard is a huge not-for-profit company that takes millions of dollars away from students every year. Many people can't afford to take one test, much less multiple. And on top of that, there's subject tests and AP tests. Rather than suing every college for being discriminatory, lowering the prices of the exam would help bridge the gap between the low income students and upper class. Or another solution is to make the test free for students who's family don't reach a certain yearly salary. Similar to how financial aid for schools work. As annoying as standardized tests are, they are a good benchmark for students to figure out what a specific college is looking for academically. Granted, student's shouldn't base their entire application off of their scores, but it gives us a good idea.