I thank God I did not grow up in the current age of college wokeness.
I'm not talking about the actual college education. I'm grateful enough for missing that, mind you. I thought it was tilted to the left then. But that was nothing compared to now. Still, I'm talking about college admission criteria.
Taking the SAT and ACT was my ticket to higher education. I grew up in Detroit. I didn't know anybody--other than teachers--with college degrees. There was nobody to guide me in the application process. I filled out the application to the University of Michigan by hand.
I had no idea the essay was important. I wrote it by hand in the space provided on the form. So it was my first draft. When I was in the dorm and people asked me what my essay was about, I honestly said I didn't remember. I was shocked that it was so important.
When I applied I had no idea a college could turn me down. Does Ford deny you the chance to buy their cars? So I only applied to Michigan. Why pay application fees to other schools when I knew I wanted to go to Michigan?
I didn't even know that college was a four-year program. No idea. College was an alien world. I didn't even know what I didn't know in order to ask questions. Here be dragons.
All I knew was that a middle school teacher had told my parents I should go to Michigan. So I thought, I'll go there.
My point is that the test scores were key to letting someone like me get
into a top tier college when otherwise I knew nothing about that world let alone anything about gaming
the system. It was the only factor that was even close to being an even playing field. I had no tutors. No courses. I took the practice exam at school, and that was my preparation.
But now the test scores that enabled my college path are deemed biased. They are downgraded and clearly on a path to being banned. This is horrifying. My two children had to navigate the current system. So I saw what it has become. Now there are BS aspects of applying for college that tilt the field to the wealthy who can afford classes, tutors, experiences, and charitable projects that prove you are "well rounded" and worthy of the university. The one thing that the poor or blue collar can use to get attention--a test score about aptitude for learning--is to be dropped?
It's all just pulling up the drawbridge to prevent people from entering the castle without a special ticket that the castle dwellers create for their favored people. This is liberal social justice? I would not have gotten that ticket those many decades ago. This is madness.
Sorry for the long and dense digression into me. But it isn't about me, really. And if I had any other point of view this would be called my "lived experience" and beyond questioning.
Madness, I say.
