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The UC is constantly struggling to properly define
equality-related problems such as institutional racism,
heterocentrism, empowerment and other choice bits of academic
babble. With so much focus on solving the big issues, it’s
surprising that so little attention is given to smaller issues of
equality ““ those that are easier to fix.
One example is the university’s failure to acknowledge the
inherent flaws of departmental placement tests and to accept SAT II
scores, in addition to Advanced Placement scores, for foreign
language placement. The foreign language departments still use
their placement tests and Advanced Placement tests, which are as
much-maligned as they are inequitable.
UC administrators have been heaping praise upon the SAT II, and
have increased its role in the admissions process. They should take
this one step further and allow SAT IIs to be used for foreign
language placement. The SAT II foreign language exams are intended
to be taken after three to four levels of instruction in a foreign
language, which translates well to the three-level language
requirement of UCLA.
SAT IIs would provide students another alternative for placement
because some schools don’t offer Advanced Placement courses
at all, let alone language courses with limited appeal. However,
everyone must take SAT II tests in order to apply to the UCs, but
only students from high schools fortunate enough to have numerous
Advanced Placement exams have the opportunity to place out of
foreign language requirements without taking a departmental
exam.
Even in the rare case of high schools that offer every Advanced
Placement exam, an inequality exists concerning which languages are
tested. The Advanced Placement exams only test mastery in four
languages ““ all European in origin ““ while the SAT II
tests nine, including some common Eastern languages. Thus, it is
possible to exempt oneself from the foreign language requirements
with an Advanced Placement test for your native language, but only
if you happen to speak Spanish, German, French, or, if you happen
to be the motherless, fatherless, autochthonous, immaculately
conceived offspring of the Pope, Latin. In fact, few public schools
offer Latin anyway.
Accepting the SAT II test will also provide equality for those
who speak Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean or Hebrew at home, or
for those who have mastered them by some other means.
Incorporating these diverse languages is important because
foreign language placement tests don’t account for when a
student studies a language. Not everyone takes language courses
during their ninth through 12th grades. And those who do usually
see their ability to speak the languages decrease in quality over
the summer, relative to those who took their Advanced Placement and
SAT II tests in May, at the height of their learning period.
Those who learn their language early, say, starting in middle
school and finishing early in high school, are at a severe
disadvantage when they take the placement tests during orientation.
In fact, many languages the SAT II covers (and the Advanced
Placement tests do not) tend to be learned earlier in life, such as
during after-school programs.
This proposed change in the use of the SAT IIs is not a
far-fetched concept and it is not unprecedented. UCLA already uses
SAT IIs for placements in areas other than foreign language. For
instance, the university uses SAT IIs for the English Subject A
requirement, the Quantitative Reasoning requirement and the
American History and Institutions requirement.
Other prestigious universities like Stanford and University of
Pennsylvania, already accept SAT IIs for language placement
requirements.
The inadequate handling of the foreign language requirement is
an issue of equity that is both concrete and easily reparable. No
financial investment, no divisive rhetoric, no angry, impassioned
speeches, no protests, no new vocabulary required. Rather, a simple
change in administrative procedure can go a long way in helping to
promote equity and improve the lives of the student body as a
whole.