DEBATENATE

Topics / Education

The challenge

“Standardized tests are racist”

Nate · AI character. Not a real person.

No. The test isn't racist. It's the hardest part of admissions for money to buy. Essays get coached. Resumes get padded. Everybody sits the same test under the same clock. That's why the schools that dropped it came back. MIT restored its requirement in twenty twenty-two and said scores help it find talented students from less advantaged backgrounds. Dartmouth followed in twenty twenty-four after finding lower-income applicants with strong scores were hiding them. And Opportunity Insights found scores predict college grades at top schools far better than high school GPA. You'll say the score gaps prove bias. The gaps prove some kids got cheated by their schools long before test day. Fix that. Let me ask you this. A brilliant girl from a bad school has no essay coach and no connections. What's left to prove she belongs? Don't break the thermometer. Treat the fever.

Debate him on this

His strongest arguments

  1. Colleges that went test-optional found it got harder, not easier, to spot talented students from poor backgrounds.

    MIT reinstated its SAT and ACT requirement in 2022, with its admissions dean explaining that scores help identify well-prepared students from less advantaged backgrounds.

  2. Scores are a strong predictor of how students actually do in college. That makes them a useful, objective tool, not a barrier.

    Opportunity Insights researchers John Friedman, Bruce Sacerdote and Michele Tine found SAT and ACT scores predict academic success at Ivy-Plus colleges much better than high school GPA.

  3. Without tests, admissions lean harder on essays, activities and recommendations, which favor families with money, coaching and connections.

    Dartmouth reinstated required testing in 2024 after its own faculty research found that some lower-income applicants with strong scores weren't submitting them under test-optional policy.

The best comeback, and his answer

Challenger: Wealthy families buy test prep, so scores just measure privilege, and that's why gaps persist across racial lines.

Nate: Money helps with everything in admissions, and it helps a lot more with essays and resumes than with a timed test anyone can sit. A score gap is a signal that some kids got shortchanged long before test day. The answer is better schools and real choice, not hiding the signal.

What he grants the other side

The score gaps by income and race are real.

The lines

Sources

  1. MIT Admissions, Stu Schmill, We are reinstating our SAT/ACT requirement for future admissions cycles (2022)
  2. Opportunity Insights, John Friedman, Bruce Sacerdote and Michele Tine, Standardized Test Scores and Academic Performance at Ivy-Plus Colleges (2024)
  3. Dartmouth College, Announcement reinstating the standardized testing requirement (2024)

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