Lawrence Today magazine, Fall 2005
Dumping the SAT
I was troubled by the announcement that Lawrence was making the SAT optional
("Lawrence adopts test-optional
approach in admissions," Spring
2005) because of
the old criticism that it tends to “disadvantage” minorities,
rural students, and those who are unable to afford the cost of test preparation
services. In dumping
the SAT, Lawrence is following the lead of a small number of liberal
arts colleges who argue that standardized test scores are not necessary to
predict academic success in college. Predictably, the Bates College study supported
this thesis, thereby validating its own 20-year policy.
I surely do hope that our new president familiarizes herself with the recently
published book by William Bowen, the former president of Princeton and current
head of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. His extensive research indicates
that the real disadvantaged class are non-minority low-income college applicants,
as they were admitted only 37 percent of the time in his study. By
comparison, athletes with the same test scores were admitted 77 percent of
the time, blacks and Latinos 66 percent, and legacies 51 percent. Additionally,
Bowen observes, blacks, Hispanics, and recruited athletes tended to underperform
in college relative to their high school grades, whereas low-income students
did just as well as higher-income students with the same SAT scores.
It’s not that the test “disadvantages” rural students or
those unable to afford preparation, it’s that the college admission offices
themselves are “disadvantaging” non-minority low-income applicants
and are “advantaging” athletes, blacks, and Hispanics. If
the goal is to recruit applicants with the best chance of academic success,
as Dean of Admissions Syverson says it is, then the college admission offices
had better review their procedures. Replacing the bit of objectivity that
the SAT offers with increased emphasis on high school work (when the quality
of the school is anywhere from A to Z and there is evidence of grade inflation among
the highly recruited groups) can only result in a college student body
less likely to be successful.
Tom Felhofer, ’71
Luxemburg, Wisconsin
Test scores don’t reflect ability
Three cheers go out to Lawrence for no longer requiring applicants to submit
their scores on the ACT or SAT.
As a New York City high school English teacher assigned to teach five classes
of SAT prep to our sophomores, I could not be happier. My students, a majority
of whom have already passed three of New York State’s Regents Exams,
are tested and taught to test to death — theirs and mine.
Thank you, Lawrence, for standing up for students who work hard every day to
master their subject areas and who do not need to face another obstacle to
their dreams. College success depends on good study habits and a love for the
subject, and the SAT does not measure those.
Andrea Hines, ’91
Brooklyn, New York
A spy is a spy is a…
I found intensely interesting Dr. Peter Blitstein’s article (“Spy
or no spy,” Summer 2005) on the exposure of Harry Dexter
White’s clandestine cooperation with the Soviet dictatorship and his
later public denial.
During my years at Lawrence (1953-57), HUAC’s investigations into spying
by our then-avowed Cold War enemy were headline news. Add to this the fact
that Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy was a central figure in those probes,
an Appleton resident, and a headline-grabbing critic of President Nathan Pusey,
who had included The Communist Manifesto in Lawrence’s frosh studies
syllabus. As a result, campus bull sessions were ideologically charged.
HUAC hearings and McCarthy’s rants and lists were unanimously vilified
by Lawrence faculty and students, as I recall. The prevailing campus “PC” line
(an anachronism, of course) was that Joe was a political menace and character-assassin
who waved lists of “red-sympathizers” and downright spies — all
vicious lies. The recent opening of Soviet secret files clearly indicates that
not all accusations then were false.
Without condoning the “exposure tactics” of the senator and HUAC,
I for one have rethought the degree to which I, as a young student, accepted
as genuine all denials of those accused of “un-American” activities
and the angst of their defenders. We now know that there was a widespread Soviet
espionage network in the 1930s and ’40s that successfully recruited and
obtained important information from U.S. government personnel.
Blitstein thoughtfully ends his article with a paragraph emphasizing that “Questions
remain.” I must reply to his query that asks how someone could be both
a Soviet agent and a high-level U.S. governmental official working on behalf
of the preservation of capitalism and furtherance of international peace. In
the face of what this article presents, I believe that such duplicity is not
easily achieved, but Harry Dexter White was a clever master of the skill.
Ted Beranis, ’57
Bonita Springs, Florida
Under Ted’s wing
I was taken back when I saw the picture of Ted Cloak in the summer issue ("Two
Anniversaries: Remembering Ted Cloak and 75 years of Lawrence theatre history").
There sat a favorite professor in serious and thoughtful discussion with two
collegians
whose names you may not have known. I can identify the sleepy-eyed young woman
on Ted’s right, my sister, Suzanne McCarthy, ’56, who died of kidney
failure about the middle of her sophomore year.
I find it interesting to note that Suzie’s illness was a result of childhood
scarlet fever, something today’s collegians know practically nothing
about. At the time of her death, dialysis was unheard of, and the first kidney
transplant took place a full year afterwards, an experiment in Boston between
identical twins.
Suzie’s friends would not have known me, as I was seven years ahead of
her. I also loved Ted’s classes and the inspiration he stimulated. For
McCarthy girls, being in a theatre class was both innovative and gutsy. We
had grown up in a loving family with some outdated attitudes. Our mother overtly
expressed her opinion that “Women in the theatre are tarts!” So
the fact that Suzie and I found ourselves entranced under Ted’s wing
was phenomenal.
Meredythe McCarthy, ’49
St. Louis Park, Minnesota
P.S., Suzie has another sister, Carole McCarthy Head, ’44.
Worn with pride
Ted Cloak met and studied with Alexander Dean
at the Yale Drama School. When I arrived at the drama school some years later,
Virginia, Alec’s widow, greeted me saying, “You’re one of
Ted’s students.” I have worn that with pride for many years.
Don E. Jones, Jr., ’50
Safety Harbor, Florida
Concerning participation
I’ve read with interest the various articles showcasing Lawrence’s
emphasis on one-on-one learning in the Winter and Spring editions of Lawrence
Today. The much-touted Lawrence Difference
means something special for each of us. Particular qualities of the experience
bind us into the alumni community:
•
Critical problem solving,
•
Desire to ask questions,
•
Learning how to learn,
•
One-on-one interactive learning experiences…
…
are just a few of the qualities that formed us into “a community of scholars” as
undergraduates and make us a community of alumni scholars today. All of this
is reflected in the astonishing level of participation in giving sustained
by our alumni that I read about in the 2004 edition of the Report on Giving.
Lawrence does a great job of getting alumni to show support, which is how we
achieved our 51.4 percent participation rate in June 2005. This number also
improves Lawrence’s ranking in US News & World Report. But, as great
as that number is, it means that almost half of our alumni are not participating.
Each of us can and must help raise the participation rate, especially now when
recent economic trends place extra significance on annual gifts to make ends
meet.
Nick Candee, ’70
Belmont, Massachusetts
Who can forget Trivia Weekend?
Reading about the continuing tradition (40 years, no less!) of the famous Lawrence
University Trivia Weekend ("Trivia
Contest turns 40," Summer 2005) brought
back great memories! I am delighted to hear that the Trivia Contest is still
going
strong;
that the questions are, if possible, more obscure; and that the team names
are just as — ahem — creative as they ever were. You have to wonder
how we answered any of those questions “way back then” (in the ’70s)
with only our wits, our knowledge (such as it was), and a lot of almanacs in
those pre-Internet days. Oh, yes, don’t forget the pizza. Lots of it!
I have just two burning questions for the Trivia Masters. One: does the Christian
Fellowship still field teams with excellent (and unpronounceable) Old Testament
names to rival Xerrubbabel or Mephibosheth? Try pronouncing those at 4:00 a.m.
on Sunday morning. On the radio.
More importantly, when are you going to put this contest up on the Internet
so that the rest of us trivia fans can partake in cyberspace? Just call us
Way, Way, Way Off Campus!
Cathy Barlow Garrison, ’80
Mountain Lakes, New Jersey
As Cathy now knows, Trivia Weekend has, in fact, been webcast from www.lawrence.edu/sorg/wlfm for
four years and, owing to recent developments ("A
new format for WLFM"), will
continue to be. – Ed.
. . .
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