Remember how stupid the SAT and ACT were? I do! In case you don’t, I’ll remind you. They were tests that supposedly measured your worth as a student and told universities whether you would be a positive addition. Except they didn’t do any of that. Instead, they made a lot of SAT and ACT prep class companies a lot of money. They were tests you realized meant absolutely nothing your first day of college. And you probably thought you were done with forever.
Unfortunately, there’s a new test for college seniors looking for employment after graduation- the Collegiate Learning Assessment test, or CLA+.
The basic intent of the test isn’t bad; it’s to help even the playing ground. While employers obviously know a Harvard student is far more intelligent, creative and analytical than a Florida State student; not all employers might know that UF classes are more challenging than FSU classes, and therefore straight A’s from UF mean more than straight A’s from FSU. The test is supposed to help employers see these things. But is a standardized test really necessary for employers to see what should be evident from cover letters, resumes and interviews? I say no. So many companies don’t give one iota about your grades, so evening the playing ground for your grades to mean more isn’t even really necessary. Your classes were more challenging, so you should have better resumes and experience.
An even bigger problem- the test is supposed to help measure classroom knowledge, internship experience and basically the overall college learning experience. So essentially, this test is a way for employers to judge potential hires without really knowing anything because it’s impossible to put a test score on collegiate learning.
I understand the GRE, MCAT, LSAT, PCAT, etc. But we’re talking about jobs, not more school. A lot of what it takes to be a good employee are intangible qualities that can’t possibly be measured in a test, like strong work ethic, cooperation and an agreeable nature.
Hopefully, this test will never receive as much attention as other standardized tests, and maybe if we’re lucky, it’ll be something that just kind of gets forgotten about. Very soon. Because let’s be real, the most important thing this test can do is show employers who the lazy but bright students they are- a.k.a the ones they shouldn’t hire.
