Standardized tests for university admission coming to Ontario?
No, much like the over-sensationalized “What’s in your fridge might kill you — full story at 11!” nightly news headline, it’s not really that bad . . . yet.
Maclean’s education site reports that the idea was raised at the recent Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance Partnership in Education dinner as a proposed solution to today’s issues in undergraduate education: student apathy and disengagement; grade inflation at the high school (read: university admissions) level; and academic dishonesty.
One speaker suggested the use of standardized testing at the high school exit stage of the university admissions process with the article’s author, Joey Coleman, advocating the idea of a Canadian, SAT-like, national test.
I have always called myself a “fan” of standardized tests for university entrance, but it’s more accurate to say I’ve been a fan of the option to take standardized tests for university admission.
In my “Ontario University Admissions for Homeschoolers” seminar I mention that I would trade four years of a prescriptive, monitored, structured high school education for the chance to accomplish the thing (i.e. university entrance) with a 225 minute test on a Saturday morning. I’m guessing others would make that trade, too.
I’ve been able to overlook the negatives of standardized testing because it, thus far, has always been a student’s choice. There are 7 ways to get into an Ontario university without a high school diploma, and if standardized tests aren’t your thing, then you can try out one of the other six.
I may not approve of your standardized test, but I will defend to the death your right to take it! (OK, so it was a little more impressive, and literally true, the way Voltaire said it.)
But, I question whether mandatory standardized testing for university entrance is the solution.
For us to adopt these tests universally is an implicit endorsement of the tests, and of a testing mentality.
Furthermore, it would be an admission that our high school grades have become so meaningless they can’t do the one thing they really are supposed to do: measure academic achievement. But, instead of trying to structure high school programs so that they are meaningful, the proposal on the table seems to concede defeat in that arena.
If the symptom of our current “undergraduate crisis” is that too many kids are in generic undergraduate programs simply because they don’t know what else to do with themselves (but yet don’t really seem to be getting anything out of being there), then surely there’s a better way to remedy the situation: stop perpetuating the mass delusion that university is the one right path for everyone.
It’s not as simple as saying, “Leave university to the kids who really do want or deserve to be there for the right reasons.” This is easier said than done since no one can seem to agree on what the purpose of a university education is for or what the right reasons to attend are. (Nod to Jeff Rybak.)
I don’t pretend to have the answer to the problem, but I know that the answer isn’t widening the university’s mandate so that there’s something for everyone . . . and then erecting entrance barriers in the form of standardized tests to keep out the riff raff.
Ontario’s colleges were on the right track with their “Obay” advertising campaign. (This campaign attacked the “my kid is going to university no matter what” mentality and you can read about it in the Toronto Star and see more of the fake ads at the Torontoist here, here and here.)
Unfortunately, Ontario colleges aren’t all prepared and/or willing to handle homeschoolers, but the sentiment is right: stop trying to make everyone go to university, and (my wish) stop trying to make university into the place for everyone, lest we end up with nothing more than a K-16 system.
If the universities are dissatisfied with their student population, it’s their own fault. For years, they added more and more programs so that they could attract more and more students who might not have considered themselves to be university-bound.
An interesting experiment would be to take all business, management and commerce programs out of university. We know that these programs are largely composed of the kids who are looking for academic credentials to land them high paying jobs in the financial sector. (My apologies to those who will go on to become economics professors, but you have to admit, you’re in the minority!) Suddenly I think we’d see the “university or bust” stigma disappear.
Of course, let’s not forget that we still have Open Universities, which can make one wonder what all the fuss is about anyway!
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Hi Sarah. My friend Peta Coffeng has been telling me about you. Thanks for all your hard work on behalf of the homelearning community. I lived in Ontario for 11 years, and was secretary of the Ontario Federation of Teaching Parents for many years. For the past 10 years I’ve been living in Victoria, B.C., and continuing our homelearning odyssey. My oldest two sons are students at University of Victoria now, both theatre majors. They were the 2nd and 3rd homelearning students ever to be admitted to UVic without either a Dogwood or college courses. We used the standardized testing route, as well as a resume, letters of reference, and entrance essays. Their applications were considered by the Senate Committee for Admission, Re-registration and Transfer (SCART). Both boys took the PSAT, SAT, and AP exams. The oldest was an AP scholar and tested out of his English requirement. His brother received a National Merit Letter of Commendation, and was a National AP Scholar for Canada. Because of his AP exam results, he enters UVic this fall with more than a year’s credit.
Because they chose not to do what most B.C. homeschoolers do and enter high school at grade 10 or 11 as the course of least resistance to get the almighty Dogwood, my sons had time to study music, be in community orchestras, youth orchestras, theatre groups, on basketball and baseball teams, work part-time and read tons and tons of books. They also are very happy, confident and excited young people. Please keep telling people they have a choice. Thanks again for your work.