Florida’s new 'Christian' standardized test is how conservatives 'shove religion in public schools': analysis
Florida governor and 2024 Republican presidential primary contender Ron DeSantis is causing "harm" to "public education as we know it in part by letting Christian Nationalists run the show," reports the Friendly Atheist's Hemant Mehta.
"Florida's public university system announced that it would accept results from the Classic Learning Test (CLT) for students applying to places like the University of Florida or Florida State University. Incoming freshmen can submit their CLT scores instead of the more traditional SAT or ACT tests," Mehta explains.
He writes, "The problem with the CLT is that there's very little evidence that it's a good indicator of college preparedness. The test, which launched in 2015, has only been taken by about 21,000 students total. By comparison, 1.7 million students took the SAT and 1.3 million took the ACT in 2022 alone. Both of those latter tests are constantly revised and updated. There's no similar track record for the CLT. Furthermore, 85% of the students who've taken the CLT are white and 99% of test-takers attend private schools and charter schools or are home-schooled. The 'C' may as well stand for 'Christian.'"
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Mehta explains that "conservatives" are "eager to push the CLT as a valid alternative to the ACT and SAT despite that lack of information" because "the Republican base loves it."
Mehta adds, "The CLT is the test of choice for several conservative Christian colleges (like Michigan's Hillsdale College) while the SAT has become a bogeyman for conservatives because it's run by the College Board, which they see as too liberal. (The College Board oversees AP testing.) The CLT's Board of Academic Advisors reads like a laundry list of faith-based school leaders, conservative activists (e.g. Christopher Rufo), and (hey why not) Cornel West."
Although "the CLT looks very familiar, with sections devoted to math, writing, and verbal reasoning," Mehta notes that "the topics are much more narrow—and much more religious. It highlights the 'centrality of the Western tradition' at the expense of all other ones, which means there's a preference for works that are white, Western European, and Judeo-Christian. If you think Dead White Guys represent the pinnacle of education and modern writers who cover a wider range of topics can be ignored, this is the test for you."
Moreover, while "the questions aren't exactly tough to figure out," Mehta stresses that the CLT is "a way to shove religion in public schools without explicitly endorsing a specific brand of Christian beliefs. It's not that the CLT directly promotes religion, but it indirectly sends the message that understanding religious writing can be beneficial. For now, it also limits the options of where high school students who take the exam can go to college since most schools—the ones with a good reputation—don't take the CLT seriously."
Mehta's post is available at this link.
