It’s 2019 and the white savior complex is still alive an well.
The University of California is the most prominent public university system in the world, and it will soon be the most prominent public university system to abandon the SAT and ACT tests in its admissions requirements.
Their goal is to create a student body which is representative of California’s population. Currently White people and Asians dominant the UC student body. Below are some graphs which can give context to UC’s racial identity crisis. The first shows California’s population by race, the second shows UC’s student enrollment by race, and the third shows the first two plus enrollment in UC’s by race as a percentage.
You can see that UC’s racial crisis is based in reality. African Americans and Hispanics are underrepresented in UC’s when compared to their representation in California. (White people are also underrepresented, but no one seems to care.)
This racial disparity problem is the basis for many controversial decisions which are aimed at helping minorities have better access to economic gain (eg. better jobs, more representation in higher education).
In this recent case, the UC intends to help minority students have a better shot at gaining admissions to one of their universities by lowering the only requirement that allows it to rank its applicants objectively.
The UC has low confidence in a non-white or Asian student’s ability to earn a competitive score on the ACT or SAT.
Proponents of the abolition of the SAT and ACT requirement may argue that minorities have to deal with racial hurdles which undermine their ability to compete with their peers. This is a very real issue. Overt racism and microaggressions are real issues in most social situations. They pose psychological dangers which may hinder performance on everything including the SAT and ACT.
But, is this enough to block minorities from conquering these tests? I refuse to believe that they are. Are you telling me that any given minority kid cannot get a 1300 on the SAT?
I argue that any student who wants to do well, will do well. Doesn’t each student have the ability to succeed? Or do they need they need a Savior?
The only way that we can argue that Black and Hispanic students cannot be successful without the help of another race, (eg. the white dominated leaders of the UC Regents), is if Blacks and Hispanics are intellectually weaker than other races.
I’m no social scientist, but, in my observation the primary reason that there is a racial disparity in UC enrollment is because racial groups don’t want to participate. They choose not to put as many hours into studying for the SAT and ACT, and frankly, that’s okay.
It’s okay that UC enrollment has fewer blacks and Hispanics than what the public population distribution indicates. If these groups want to increase their chances, they can on their own volition.
The UC does not need to market to them. As far as I know, the admissions process is not built against racial minorities. In fact, I’d bet that there is a bias toward letting more minorities in, even with current SAT and ACT requirements.
Do not take away the only requirement which all applicants participate in. The SAT and ACT are the only tests which can be used to objectively compare applicants.
Now, if you want to get rid of the SAT and the ACT because you’re against the dominance of the large testing firms, then that’s another story. But, believe in people’s ability to succeed on their own. Black people and Hispanics don’t need a Savior. Keep the doors open, keep standards high, and let them compete when they feel like it.
