SAT’s shortcomings

I agree with your thoughtful reservations in the Aug. 29 editorial about the proposal to require high school students to take the Scholastic Assessment Test and hope that Maine’s education commissioner will drop the proposal from further consideration. Contrary to common belief, the SAT is a poor predictorof college performance.

The high school record, for all its problems, correlates substantially better with college performance than does the SAT. Two of America’s great colleges, Bowdoin and Bates here in Maine, have set an enlightened example and eliminated the test from their requirements for admission, and others around the country are following their lead.

It would be ironic if the state of Maine were now to impose the SAT on its high school students when colleges in Maine are finding the test to be expendable.

Warner V. Slack, M.D.

Professor of Medicine

Harvard Medical School

Meddybemps

and Newton Centre, Mass.