The Patriot Post® · California Eliminates 'Racist' ACT, SAT

California recently decided to scrap the SAT and ACT tests for its 10-university application system, asserting that the exams are essentially racist. The Daily Signal reports, “The public University of California System’s Board of Regents announced its decision as the outcome of a settlement agreement Friday that will prevent the UC System from considering SAT or ACT scores for admission and scholarship decisions through at least 2025.”

The Golden State came to this decision following a lawsuit brought by students who claimed the state’s use of the standardized tests is unfair to already disadvantaged students. Amanda Savage, a lawyer representing the students, responded to the settlement by claiming, “[This] settlement ensures that the university [system] will not revert to its planned use of the SAT and ACT — which its own regents have admitted are racist metrics.”

The New York Times reports, “Last year, the university system voted to phase out the SAT and ACT requirements for admission, amid the ongoing criticism. Like many colleges nationwide, University of California schools had already made the SAT and ACT optional for last year’s applicants who will begin school this fall, after testing dates were disrupted by the pandemic.” But that action wasn’t enough for the students suing the state, as lawyers insisted that “even voluntary submission of scores would be harmful.”

The irony here is that now California’s admissions officials won’t have to attempt to cover up their racially discriminatory admission practices that target Asian and white students for exclusion. Furthermore, this decision effectively allows the state to get around a ban, upheld by California voters, against the use of racial preferences when considering student applications.

Ultimately, this decision reveals the chasm between the principle of equality versus that inherently Marxist ethic known as equity. California isn’t interested in promoting and preserving equality of opportunity, where individuals succeed or fail based on merit. Rather, the state has chosen to ignore the individual and instead focus on outcomes where everyone is measured against a quota system that determines “fairness.”

Not only will Californians continue fleeing the state over its anti-business, high-tax climate, but they’ll be fleeing the state looking for better schools where students can actually be judged on the content of their character and not by the color of their skin.