If It Happens In Africa, Then It Cannot Be Racist: An Analysis of Standardized Tests

Written by John (the other John).

Today, we have become accustomed to the Left labeling anything they do not like as being “racist” (what a shocker), in lieu of making any kind of valid argument to debate an issue. So the purpose of this article is to discuss a specific issue that exists in academia today: standardized tests.

It has been many years for me since I was in school, but I have taken standardized tests at multiple levels. From my recollection, these tests were bland and very pointless with respects to any realm of life. I very much disliked these tests, and I very much would have preferred that they never existed; they are ridiculous, a waste of time, and a waste of money, but one thing I cannot say is that they are “racist”. To say that these tests have a “white” slant and/or are Afro-repellent is preposterous (especially considering that Far East Asians on average score much higher than whites on average). Their rationale for alleging “systemic racism” is that poc’s score far worse on average on these tests than do whites (no other explanation is allowed to be analyzed; got it!!!!). But then we must ask (besides the pure idiocy of their assertion), can it really be “racist” if they do this in Africa? (As a reminder, sub-Saharan Africa has a predominantly black population).

So I analyzed some random nations and Universities in Africa with respects to standardized tests (for the sake of brevity, I limited this to one nation and to two Universities). Let us begin with the Republic of Nigeria (a mostly black nation) which offers the “Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination” (UTME), which is a standardized test for prospective University students. And much like in the US (and globally), these tests are designed to assess problem solving, critical thinking (not the “woke” kind), and knowledge of various subjects. The “Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board” (JAMB) is the Nigerian exam Board for tertiary-level institutions. I am unaware of any allegations of “racism” by black students against the Nigerian black government due to these standardized tests.

Now let us examine some individual Universities. The University of Cape Town which is in South Africa (a majority black nation, and the highest ranked University in all of Africa) also mandates that standardized tests be taken for admission. I provide the link to their web page that shows the prospectus for students http://www.students.uct.ac.za/sites/default/files/image_tool/images/434/prospective/ug_prospectus.pdf (see page 15 which discusses the “National Benchmark Tests”). So same here, I am unaware of any allegations of “racism” by black students against the South African black government due to these standardized tests.

Lastly, I examined Addis Adaba University in the Republic of Ethiopia which also requires that a standardized test be taken for admission. See: http://www.aau.edu.et/admission/admission-requirement/undergraduate-admission/, which says:

Admission to undergraduate programs shall be based on the completion of the preparatory secondary education and the obtaining of the necessary pass mark in University Entrance Examination, and the equivalence established by the Ministry/Higher Education Relevance and Quality Assurance Agency for international students.

As I stated above, I am unaware of any allegations of “racism” by black students against the Ethiopian black government due to these standardized tests.

The point here being that these are black nations, with black leaders, with black populations, with black Universities, and with black students, and they require standardized tests. Is this “racist”? Of course not. This is the norm in Africa (and globally: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_admission_tests_to_colleges_and_universities for nations globally that require standardized tests). So the next point here being, if it is not “racist” in Africa, nor “racist” in other countries globally, then how can it be “racist” in the US? It is not. We all know how this works, that “racism” is the chicken-soup rationale to excuse failure and justify shortcomings; “raising the bar” is off-limits, it’s all about “lowering the bar” in the name of “equity”. Not only that, but because these naysayers have no valid argument, they take the lazy-route and assert this knee-jerk response in lieu of fully thinking out this issue.

So the next time somebody alleges “racism” on a variety of issues (ex. criminal justice, governance, geographic availability of medical facilities, etc...), just remember to tell them, “if it happens in Africa, then it cannot be racist”. The Lefties will be fuming because they will have no valid reply. (Just do your research and be armed with facts).