Wa Cheng Chan
Essay #1 (edited)
To express my feelings towards the news handed out and the opinions towards the existing college-admission system.
Unfair college-admission system
A news article from the New York Times released in August reported about a recent survey on the results of the ACT test, which is a college admission test adopted by most of the colleges in the nation. The survey revealed that many students who planned to study in colleges this year do not meet the requirements. It is also shown that the situation has been getting worse over the past few years. I felt sad about the news, not because the students were not ready for their college education, but also for the high schools which do not offer the appropriate preparation to students who are taking the ACT test. I think that this unsuitable education in high schools is to be blamed for the low percentage of students who can meet the admission requirements of the colleges.
In high schools, teachers follow the syllabus set by the school. This syllabus may fit into only one of the local college-admission tests. A huge nation like the United States would be criticized for her confusing college-admission system because there are a vast variety of college-admission tests which seem to be all over the place.
Consequently, this may limit the selection of colleges by the students because they are not confident in taking tests they are unfamiliar with. Also this is unfair for students who meet the requirement of one test but not the other. Students may feel frustrated by the unfairness. For example, before I registered for classes at ACC, I took the T-com test which includes three parts: writing, reading and mathematics. Not until now have I heard that there are a lot of different kinds of tests throughout the Unites States. Then I thought, if I had taken the ACT which includes the science part, I wouldn’t have been able to take classes like biology and chemistry right now. And at that time I did wonder about how did they judge me whether I had the skill to learn biology when I hadn’t really take a test about the subject?
In the city where I live, Macau, high school education is so well-tuned that classes are designed to meet the syllabus of the GCE (General Certificate of Education) exams, a world-recognized exam for high school standards. Divided into two levels, ordinary and advanced levels, the exam has a vast variety of subjects. At the end of the high school education, students are eligible to take exams according to their elective subjects. To enter colleges or universities, they should first pass enough numbers of “O” levels and “A” levels that the institution demands. This is a very good system in which students can choose what they are interested in to study and be recognized in the universities or colleges in their hometown as well as throughout many parts of the world.
In my opinion, there is a demand of a unique and nationwide college-admission test to be the measurement of the all the high school graduates who plan to continue their study in colleges. In addition, high schools should shape their routines to fit the core curriculum for the college-bound students. This unification may allow students to study all over the country and be prepared for the admission test. Not only is there a demand for a unique test, a sufficient variety of subjects is also needed because the existing subjects are not accurate enough to judge a student.
The present college-admission test should be, in my opinion, blended into a one and only test which all the colleges should adopt. This test and its syllabus should be regulated by the national government and all high schools are obliged to prepare students for this test so as not to confuse students and to reduce the unfairness. As long as students are well-prepared for and familiar of the test, the percentage of the qualified students will increase to the actual number.
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