UMass Amherst joins a lengthening list of

colleges and universities that are no longing making SAT score a core requirement for admission. I for one, could not be happier. Standardized testing was the bastardized offspring of the "Sputnik Scare" of 1957 wherein the likes of Henry Luce were in a bowel loosening panic that the US might be falling behind in the technology race with the USSR. We needed more scientists and engineers so education had to get away from mere "enlightenment" and start supporting the Nation's Cold War Priorities. Which meant standardization and more testing and tracking. Soon enough the score and metrics inspired the state legislatures (those bastions of employment for 3rd rate lawyers, befuddled ex cops and undertakers) to transform themselves into Boards of Pedagogy and viola! INSTANT MEDIOCRITY! I stand athwart all this and cry "STOP" an end to feckless testing that canalizes the student and limits the teaching options of the teacher....and lets get the Legislatures OUT of the business of literally defining the concept of education itself. I'd sooner entrust that debate to Synod of Orangutangs. So yes...Kudos to UMass this is important and a positive step.