On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) predicted that in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision on racial preferences in college admissions, schools will move away from test scores and focus more on statements in student essays on race.
Khanna said, “I imagine that they will try to have a more qualitative assessment on essays to comply with the Supreme Court. They’re going to have to look — as you’ve discussed earlier — about not having as many legacy admissions, not having as much reliance on standardized test scores.”
He added, “I do think they can move away from standardized tests. And I think they can look at a person’s essays. Again, Roberts says that you can talk about race as part of your life. And the reality is, race matters. Race is consequential to people’s lives. And so, if we are being honest about the adversity folks face, the challenges they overcome, they’re going to talk about race. And I think that the colleges are going to have to figure out how they do that while being consistent with the court decision. But, from talking to university presidents who expected this decision — it’s not really a surprise — they are candid that this is going to be a challenge. And their concern about the leaders that they’re going to be producing for American society, they know that this country is 60% white, non-Hispanic, that it is incredibly diverse, that race continues to be a polarizing issue, dividing our nation. And they’re concerned whether they’re going to be able to expose people to all of the diversity of this country that is necessary for them to produce great leaders.”
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