Are test scores the backbone of meritocracy or the nexus of privilege?

LIKE ANY hotbed of scholarly activity, the University of California (UC) is no stranger to rows. Recently a debate over the use of SATs and ACTs, tests used in college admissions, has spilled out from campus and into the courtroom. In December a lawsuit denouncing UC’s use of the tests was filed in the Alameda County court. On February 3rd a commission reviewing admissions procedures recommended that UC should resist calls to abandon tests. More than 1,000 colleges across America have made submitting test scores optional for many students, though hardly any are completely “test blind”. UC is by far the largest institution to consider abandoning them. UC’s size (it has about 220,000 undergraduates) and prestige means others will watch what it does carefully.