By Joshua Katz and Solveig Gold
American Enterprise Institute
Excerpt: Last week’s Supreme Court ruling in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College is the latest salvo in the war over what one might call the merit of “merit.” With many colleges already ditching quasi-objective metrics like SAT scores on the grounds that such tests are racist, the focus—thanks to one line in the Chief Justice’s opinion—is now squarely on admissions essays, the evaluation of which is evidently subjective. It’s hard not to worry that, despite SFFA’s admirable efforts, the admissions process is about to become even less fair.
How is student performance most fairly evaluated? The question plagues not just admissions officers but educators everywhere.
