Editor:
As a college student, I wish to give my thoughts on an article that recently appeared in your newspaper. The author, Mr. Goodman explained that 16,000 students nationwide (4 from Santa Monica High School) were in the run for a prestigious award & most importantly, college scholarships due to their high scores on the Preliminary SAT. While this is a notable achievement, I believe that every serious student deserves a chance to get a scholarship for college, because a complex test does not entirely dictate their academic boundaries. There are numerous students who don't pass the PSAT but they indeed, have an outstanding Grade Point Average. Studies show that there isn't really much of a difference between students who pass or don't pass the tests but maintain a high GPA. Some schools don't even require a submission to colleges of any test scores at all.
Giving every student a fair chance at a scholarship is essential in many ways. It gets a student more motivated to go to college, it gives them and their parents financial security, and moreover, they're not singled out, meaning that they have a chance to participate in the scholarship drawing without a test determining whether they should or shouldn't. Some people may argue that the PSAT or other tests, would determine a student's ability to get a scholarship because if they're able to score high on those complex tests, then they're very intelligent and should be rewarded. I find this false a student just needs to be intelligent within their required coursework, which means they all should have a chance to earn money for a higher education.
Paul Mbanu
Santa Monica