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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 1998)
0regonW0meralfc NEWSROOM: (541)346-5511 E-MAIL ode(“>oregpn. uoregonedu ON-LINE EDITION: www.uoregon.edu/~ode EDITOR IN CHIEF Ryan Frank EDITORIAL EDITOR Kameron Cole SATs should go AWOL Universities should widen their focus from standardized test scores to promote out-of-class activities Most of us have been there. On some Saturday late in our high school life, we were sitting in a crowded, quiet, pressure-filled classroom coloring circles for either the SAT or ACT. For some of us, this could have be the defin ing moment in our educational future. More than any other isolated moment in our lives, those four hours were supposed to tell us our worth to college recruiters. Fail, and we may have been looking at com munity college. Succeed, and big-time college here we come. But why so much attention to four hours of our lives? More than 280 of the 1,600 colleges and universities in the nation — the University not included — are asking that same question. Those schools are shifting their focus from standardized test scores to GPA and high school subject requirements. The new standards seem to be a good start, but we are wondering why there are not more schools going in the same direction and why the new focus is not more broad. And to be more specific, why the University isn’t fol lowing. It seems to us that colleges and universities have been steering students toward one goal: academic success. While good grades and high test scores general- > We are not saying do away with standardized tests, but instead start taking other qualities more seriously. Qualities such as community service and travel that help create more complete people who have a better understanding of the world and their place in it should be given more im portance. Drama, athletics, debate, student government and anything that would enrich a high school student’s life should be moved up in the admissions standards. Martha Pitts, the director of admissions at the University, says previous course history and GPA are better indicators than the stan dardized tests. She cited whether the student challenged him or herself in the classroom as the most important criterion . Again, by looking at things other than pure numbers, this is a good starting point, but part of that challenge includes out of class activi ties. Did the student challenge him or herself with activities that help in becoming a well rounded person? Standardized tests are never going to be done away with, but if universities started tak ing other activities as seriously as the grades and test scores, that would be a step in the right direction. There is much more to life than coloring circles. This editorial represents the opinion of the Emer ald editorial hoard. Responses may be sent to ode®oregon. uoregon edu. ly reflect an intelligent person who has the potential to suc ceed in higher education, it seems there are other criteria that should be given as much weight in the application process. There should be other crite ria that reflect more of a person than how well he or she can take a grueling test and how successful they are in the classroom. Both are still imperative and should be considered. Why fc WO Have To TAKE r\ SATS?, r~ . , / _y 7 Clioi win i Salimena/Emeralci Said &Done "There are only a few punishments worse than being denied a right to make a living.” —Former boxer Muhammad All in a statement writ ten on behalf id boxer Mike Tyson’s successful bid to have his boxing license re instated by the Nevada Athletic Commission after twice biting Evan der Holyfieid’s ear during a title fight last year. With a multi-million dol lar payoff from each fight, Tyson needs some sym pathy. “I’m very excited and can't wait to go back and see my next baby. I have two daughters, and I’m a single father.” —ViliFualaau, 15, after his sec ond baby, Geor gia, was bora to 36-year-old Seat tie teacher Mary Kayletoumeauon Friday. Tuck. “We stopped polling a few weeks too soon. We ted been lulled into thinking that noth ing much changes in the last few weeks of the cam paign." —Georoe Gallup Jr., co-chairman of the Gallup orga nization and son and namesake of another of polling’s giants, on the poll Mat led to the notorious 1948 headline “Dewey Defeats Truman." Duh, George. “No.” —David Cash, a 19-year-old Uni versity of Califor nia student, when asked on “60 Min utes” whether he would do anything differently after watching his friend rape and strangle a 7-year old girl in a Neva da casino a year and a half ago.
