UC System - Racist Against Asians?

Photo Credit: UC Riverside Site

As a high school student, I know that there are several standardized tests that some colleges require for admission - e.g. ACT, SAT I, SAT IIs. Around this time of the year, many juniors can be seen cramming for their SAT Is or SAT IIs as college applications are due in several months. Though the SAT I is required for several different colleges, the UC system requires two standardized subject tests (SATII)...until now. As of this year, the class of 2012 and onwards will not be required to take the SATII for any University of California school.

When I first heard this rumor at the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year, I was pretty upset because my graduating high school class of 2011 would be the last class required to take the extra subject tests. How unfair that it would be removed from the requirements just as I graduated!

Yet as I was sitting at Starbucks Saturday morning, a San Jose Mercury News front-page article caught my eye - the removal of the SATII. According to SJMN, this gives white students a better chance of entering the university. This move has upset the Asian-American community because a significant percentage of UC schools consist of Asian/Asian-Americans; the increase of white students would only lead to a decrease in admissions for Asian students. "Under the new policy, according to UC's own estimate, the proportion of Asian admissions would drop as much as 7 percent, while admissions of whites could rise by up to 10 percent." - Lisa M. Krieger of the Mercury News.

After viewing this article and several similar others, I did not think that I was so unlucky after all; perhaps the class of 2012 and the graduates after will be the unlucky ones. Not only will the Asian students be at a disadvantage when applying for a UC school, but also students in general will not have as much of an opportunity to experience a diverse college campus life.

Will the UC school system follow through to apply this new admissions policy, or will the outcries of the Asian-American society be enough to change the school board's minds? One can only imagine, but I sincerely hope the California university boards will change their minds!!

Power to the Asians.