ABSTRACT
Education journals regularly carry attacks on merit and tests. A good grade point average won't get you into the nursing program at Cuesta College, a community college in California. No, good marks are "artificial barriers" to nursing progress, according to the state's community college chancellor, so admission to the program is now by lottery. This is just one sign of the gathering assault on good grades, test scores, and nearly all known indicators of merit and academic achievement. The SATs in particular are under heavy attack because they consistently show 200- to 230-point gaps between test scores of whites and blacks. The argument here is that the tests can't be any good because not enough blacks and Latinos do well on them. But attacking the tests is like attacking thermometers because of cold weather. Defenders of preferences now attempt to discount tests and grades by arguing that affirmative actions students do just about as well as better qualified students.
