A majority of Asian American adults support using the SAT and other standardized tests as well as high school grades in college admissions decisions but refuse to consider race or ethnicity in determining admissions, a new national survey released Wednesday shows.
Majorities also believe it’s unfair for colleges to consider an applicant’s athletic ability, family alumni ties, ability to pay full tuition or parents’ education when deciding who should receive admission, the survey found.
At the same time, a majority of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders surveyed believe that schools should teach about slavery, racism, and segregation, and object to individual school boards restricting classroom discussion of specific topics, as do some conservative as the region does.
Across the board, AAPI adults value higher education not only as a path to economic well-being, but also as a way to teach critical thinking, promote the free exchange of ideas, and promote equity and inclusion.
The survey, conducted by AAPI Data, a research organization at the University of California, and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1,068 AAPI adults ages 18 and older. The poll, conducted April 8-17 in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese and Korean, had a margin of error of 4.7 percentage points.
The poll takes a comprehensive look at attitudes toward education among Asian Americans, who are disproportionately represented among students at the University of California and other elite schools but are often ignored in policy discussions about equity and diversity. .
Multiple polls show Asian Americans support affirmative action, depending on how the question is asked. A 2022 survey found that when respondents were asked if they supported programs to help black people, women and other minorities obtain higher education, 69% said they supported it. But Asian American plaintiffs in a landmark lawsuit against Harvard argue that affirmative action policies that use race as a factor in admissions discriminate against them. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the race-conscious practice.
A question in the new survey about using race in admissions, worded without saying who it would help, didn’t get much support. When asked whether they thought colleges and universities’ admissions decisions based on race and ethnicity were “fair, unfair, or neither fair nor fair,” 18% said it was fair and 53% said it was It is unfair, with 27% of respondents saying it is unfair.
AAPI DATA/AP-NORC survey is one of the first to assess Asian American attitudes toward standardized tests and other college admissions metrics, as well as broader questions about the value of education.
Karthick Ramakrishnan, professor of public policy and political science at the University of California, Riverside and founder of AAPI, said: “Stereotypes about AAPI may indicate that they only care about education in a narrow way because education Linked to economic mobility and hard skills linked to job prospects “This study reveals a more nuanced, comprehensive picture that shows AAPI people value education… and also contributes to developing critical thinking and developing a more informed mindset. citizen. “
An overwhelming majority (71%) of respondents believe the history of slavery, racism, segregation and the Asian and Pacific Islander community should be taught in public schools. A minority (53%) favors education about sex and sexuality, including 72% of Asian and Pacific Islander Democrats and 25% of Republicans.
Overall, Asian and Pacific American adults hold similar views to the American public about the keys to children’s success: working hard, spending time with parents and which schools to attend. However, Asian Americans are more likely to believe the neighborhood they live in is important to educational success—62 percent, compared with 49 percent of all Americans. Ramakrishnan said research shows AAPI families prefer to move to areas with good schools, even if it means living in worse housing.
Asian Americans’ support for standardized tests comes as several elite colleges have reinstated admissions requirements after suspending them during the pandemic. Harvard University, Caltech, Yale University, Dartmouth University and the University of Texas at Austin are among the universities that have reinstated testing mandates in recent months.
Some institutions said their reviews showed that the testing requirement increases diversity, which benefits applicants who would otherwise struggle to secure a rigorous high school curriculum, strong recommendations or impressive extracurricular activities. Others say it’s difficult to assess applicants’ readiness for college without standardized testing, especially since many educators have reported dramatic increases in scores since the pandemic.
Both the University of California and California State University have eliminated standardized test requirements for admission.
While some UC leaders have expressed interest in reviewing the decision’s impact on student outcomes, faculty leaders say there may not be much interest. The University of California’s Board of Regents rejected the Academic Senate’s recommendation to retain the testing requirement and voted to bar it from making admissions decisions.
USC is continuing its test-optional policy — accepting those willing to submit scores but not penalizing those who don’t — and is reviewing whether to continue the program.
Frank Xu, a San Diego high school sophomore and parent of an MIT student, said he opposes the University of California Board of Regents’ decision to lift the testing mandate, arguing that numerous studies show test scores are linked to college success. Highly correlated.
“I fully support research-based decisions, and I feel like at the University of California, ignoring the Faculty Senate is an entirely political decision,” he said.
But some Asian American students say the test is an unfair factor in admissions decisions.
Rida Hossain and Shariqa Sultana, students at Downtown Magnets High School, said their family cannot afford to prepare for the test, making less than $30,000 a year and supporting relatives in Bangladesh.
“Standardized tests don’t paint a picture of students’ ability to perform in higher education because in class they do a lot of essay writing, research, collaborations and projects that don’t necessarily translate into the classroom.” Multiple-choice exams, Shariqa said. “How you actually perform in the classroom and in extracurricular activities is a better measure than one test that determines your entire future.”
Many Asian Americans support standardized testing for several reasons, Ramakrishnan said. Most are immigrants from China, South Korea, India and other countries who use such tests for college admissions, he said. They are accustomed to a high-stakes exam system and see it as a fair way to determine college admissions compared to wealth or political connections.
The survey supports this, showing that 70% of AAPI immigrant respondents took the test, compared with 56% of U.S.-born respondents. The majority of respondents (45%) said it was fair to consider personal experiences of difficulty or adversity.
But 69% of respondents said traditional admissions — which gives preferential treatment to children of alumni — is unfair, while 48% objected to considering an applicant’s ability to pay. A majority (54%) think it’s unfair to consider whether an applicant is the first in his or her family to go to college.
