Standardized tests are still indispensable. First, the most statistically reliable admissions procedure is to consider class rank and standardized test results together. Second, standardized exams help admissions officers overcome problems with class rank such as grade inflation and disparities in course difficulty and peer group competitiveness at various high schools. Finally, at very competitive colleges, all students with a high class rank simply cannot be admitted. For example, Harvard does not even have enough places in its freshman class for all the valedictorians who apply.
Standardized tests are equally useful educational evaluators for all students, regardless of race.
That Asian American students, many of whom are second generation immigrants, score better on these exams than white students proves the fallaciousness of the argument. No better tool than standardized exams exists for keeping bias out of any evaluation system. Common sense suggests that the more objective the criteria are, the less room there is for prejudice to seep into the selection process. Even if the person doing the admitting or hiring wanted to indulge prejudice and discriminate based on race, religion, or any other factor, he would find it almost impossible to do so if selection were based on a numerical score, objectively obtained by standardized testing. In short, when one considers the susceptibility of various evaluations processes to discrimination, standardized tests would be at one end of the spectrum and decisions made in smoke-filled rooms based on subjective criteria would be at the other.