Stacy, Brooks made the exact same point at the ISI's Civic
Literacy event at the National Press Club yesterday.
After his talk, someone asked him if he thought that the SAT
should be rejected as an indicator of college and intellectual
performance, as it merely rewards test-taking ability and not
knowledge or education. He answered that the high school GPA
standard bothered him more, as applicants to Harvard and other
Ivies need such high GPAs that only "professional students" can
gain admission. Kids who have a passion for one subject and
pursue it at the expense of A grades in other classes won't get
into the top schools. The overall effect is that students at
Harvard et al. aren't very interested or interesting to others.
He added that, for that reason, he's glad his own son is
interested in Rhodes College, not some Ivy school.
