I am highly sceptical of the idea that standardized testing is truly meritocratic. There's a recent KnowingBetter video that goes into detail on how it can be v

I am highly sceptical of the idea that standardized testing is truly meritocratic. There's a recent KnowingBetter video that goes into detail on how it can be viewed as a segregation tool and how that idea of "we are educationally disarming ourselves" started with Reagan and Ayn Rand, but that would veer too much into politics, so I'll make my own argument: the fact that you benefit from private tutoring, having a good learning environment, a culture of academic expectations etc. will make rich kids and kids that are pushed into studying more by their parents much more likely to do well on standardized tests. It won'tnecessarily transfer though. So by focusing on standardised testing, you filter out poor people (which still just happen to be overproportionally PoC in the US...) while optimising for people who can do at standardised tests, not necessarily those who'll do well in research. And given the number of diagnosed AD(H) and dyslexic people I've encountered in my higher education who only pass their exams because of accomodation of specialised needs but who are brilliant at their roles now... I'll rather take diversity I think than trust some government to codify what "intelligence" and "merit" means.