Until now, a high school student had to earn at least an 820 (the so-called "cut score") on the SAT exam, or a corresponding 68 composite score on the lesser-known ACT exam, in order to be eligible to compete in athletics at a Division I university. But a recent rule change by the Division I Board of Directors of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. eliminated the minimum score on national entrance exams for freshman athletes -- a terrible mistake.
Under the new rules, if a student's grade-point average in high school is 3.55 or better, he or she becomes athletically eligible at Division I universities, irrespective of one's performance on the SAT or ACT exams.
The board's decision to eliminate the cut score was part of a larger and much-needed effort to raise academic standards for incoming student athletes. Unfortunately, the board failed to recognize the deleterious effects that doing away with the cut score would have on the weakest high schools throughout this country.
Moreover, the board willy-nilly took away the only basis that colleges have for ensuring a modicum of comparability among secondary schools. In short, the board has now ceded to the high schools the authority to determine freshman eligibility at the collegiate level.