The College Board’s New SAT is a Symptom of Superficial Education

Good morning:

The academic year may be over, but the landscape of American education continues to change. 

In National Review, MI collegiate associate Vilda Westh Blanc and legal fellow Tim Rosenberger write about troubling revisions to the SAT, possibly the most significant standardized test for college admissions. The College Board released a digital SAT test that is shorter, less stressful, less complex, and adjusts how difficult the questions are to how well the student is performing. In other words, the SAT is no longer the meritocratic assessment of “college readiness” it once was.  

If students are increasingly ill-prepared for college, it seems that many staff and professors are as well. At Cornell University, hiring committees used a structured, four-stage process to micromanage candidate pools, with the explicit intention of shaping their racial composition. In City Journal, MI’s director of higher education policy, John D. Sailer, exposes the process and provides a window into the federally funded day-to-day machinations of Cornell’s social-justice advocates. 

Also in City Journal, director of cities John Ketcham argued that the U.S. Supreme Court made the right decision in upholding a Texas law that permits several ways for internet users to meet an age-verification requirement before accessing pornography online. The opinion held that the state’s interest in protecting children from harmful sexual material is not only important but compelling. In his piece, Ketcham looks ahead to other areas where courts may apply that reasoning to protect children. 

In a new MI video, fellow Colin Wright breaks down the three main takeaways from his recent article about protecting children from the harmful effects of puberty blockers and gender-related surgeries. The supporting evidence for those interventions is weak, and children’s long-term health and well-being should be the priority. 

Now that NYC has entered the general mayoral race, John Ketcham in the New York Post evaluates the campaign of incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and where he has a chance to beat Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani—and where Adams is likely to come up short.

Finally, the MI Research team published a report this week by scholars Jonathan Caulkins and Bishu Giri, using new data to compare large seizures of fentanyl at the U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada borders. Illegally manufactured fentanyl continues to kill significant numbers of people in the United States. Counties along the border with Canada are not an important part of that phenomenon. A data-informed crackdown on fentanyl would focus on the southern border counties.  

Continue reading for all these insights and more. And have a wonderful Fourth of July.  

Kelsey Bloom

Editorial Director

Fentanyl at the Gates: Comparing Large Seizures at the U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada Borders

By Jonathan P. Caulkins | Carnegie Mellon University

& Bishu Giri | Carnegie Mellon University

Earlier this year President Trump declared a national emergency to address the drug crisis in the United States, citing the flow of fentanyl across both the northern and southern borders.

But policies that focus on illicit drugs flowing from Canada target the wrong border. 

A new Manhattan Institute report by Carnegie Mellon University researchers Jonathan P. Caulkins and Bishu Giri finds that nearly all large fentanyl seizures occur along the southern border. From 2013–24, 99% of pills and 97% of powder-form fentanyl in large seizures near land borders came from the south. San Diego County, CA, leads in powder seizures, while Pima County, AZ, leads in pill seizures. 

The counties on the U.S.-Mexican border are home to just 2.35% of the U.S. population, they accounted for 40% of the fentanyl seized in 2023–24. In contrast, counties on the U.S.-Canada border, home to 3.1% of the population, accounted for just 1.2% of seized powder and 0.5% of pills.  

This new MI report shows that crackdowns on seizure hotspots have saved lives. Enforcement works—when it is aimed at real supply chains. 

Eric Adams Can Ask NYC for a Second Chance — and Fend Off Zohran Mamdani

By John Ketcham | Manhattan Institute

“After laying low during primary-campaign season, Mayor Eric Adams is once again the most important man in New York City. He may have also been the second-happiest person to see Tuesday’s shock primary-election results. Faced with the very real possibility of avowed socialist Zohran Mamdani taking the reins of the nation’s biggest city, Adams knows that a broad swath of voters will give him a second look—and maybe, after a bumpy term in office, a second chance. … 

“Yet hurdles remain. Even voters concerned about Mamdani’s inexperience and antisemitism may find it hard to forget Adams’ federal indictment and the corruption scandals that engulfed his top aides. And the most likely path to victory for Adams relies on other candidates exiting the field so as not to split the moderate vote — which so far is not happening.” 

Watering Down the SAT Weakens Meritocracy

By Vilda Westh Blanc & Tim Rosenberger

“For decades, the SAT has served as a great equalizer and standardized measure that allows students, regardless of background, to showcase their abilities and earn a place at top institutions. For elite universities, studies in 2024 show that SAT scores were 3.9 times more predictive of a student’s success than high school GPA. Admissions offices from Harvard, Yale, and Brown, have even publicly acknowledged this fact. … 

“The new digital SAT, now shorter, remote, and adaptive, reduces the pressure and challenge that once made it a meaningful test of academic readiness and resilience. If a student struggles in the first section, the test adjusts to become easier; if they excel, it becomes harder. … Such a system abandons the meritocratic ideal and rewards mediocrity over excellence, erasing the incentive to strive.” 

Cornell’s Racialist Hiring Scheme

By John D. Sailer | City Journal

“At Cornell University, faculty search committees adopted a series of checkpoints to ensure that job candidates were sufficiently ‘diverse.’ … 

“Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination in hiring. Had Cornell restricted these faculty positions to certain racial groups, it would have plainly violated the law. The Cornell FIRST program was more subtle, prioritizing diversity throughout the search process rather than at the final hiring stage. 

“Still, the program’s carefully structured, four-stage process—explicitly designed to shape the racial composition of the candidate pool—raises legal concerns. ‘Each search will be governed by a clear process and 4 checkpoints,’ the FIRST proposal notes, ‘to ensure that the search has as diverse a pool as possible.’ The process is described step by step.” 

The Supreme Court Is Right to Age-Gate Porn

By John Ketcham | City Journal

“In a 6–3 decision issued Friday in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, the Supreme Court upheld a Texas law requiring pornographic websites to verify users’ ages before granting access. With similar laws now on the books in at least 21 other states, the ruling empowers state authorities to shield children from sexually explicit online materials—and may also open the door to regulating minors’ access to social media. … 

The decision “reflects a pragmatic recognition of the Internet’s contemporary dangers for children. As the majority observed, ‘with the rise of the smartphone and instant streaming, many adolescents can now access vast libraries of video content—both benign and obscene—at almost any time and place, with an ease that would have been unimaginable’ when the Court decided its earlier precedents.” 

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