Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is trying to separate himself from the pack of candidates attempting to challenge Donald Trump for the party’s nomination.
Among his many ideas and initiatives, Ramaswamy has suggested a strange change in the way that SAT scores are determined.
The biotech entrepreneur wants to add a physical fitness section to the test, which measures English and math skills.
“Now that the Supreme Court finally ended affirmative action, colleges will only further deprioritize SAT scores in favor of subjective factors because of large racial disparities in test results,” wrote Ramaswamy on X, formerly known as Twitter. “There’s a simple way forward that will drive excellence and diversity of talent among incoming college classes: the College Board should add a physical fitness section to the SAT, instead of just math and reading sections. This could mirror the “Presidential Fitness Test” – consisting of a 1-mile run, pull-ups, sit-ups, shuttle run, etc. – regularly administered across American high schools until the Obama White House [disbanded] it.
“This is a pro-merit solution that rewards diverse talents: it’s a fact that those who perform well on math & reading tests tend to perform more poorly on the 1-mile run, and vice versa. This would also help address a growing mental health crisis in our country: physical fitness correlates directly with lower rates of depression, anxiety, and drug use. This is not formally part of my Presidential platform but it’s a serious proposal to address multiple cultural & health challenges with a single actionable step: most solutions shouldn’t come top-down from government.”
It sounds like Ramaswamy is conflating a few different ideas here in an attempt to stick it to Democrats and Barack Obama. It’s hard to imagine anyone wants to see a physical fitness portion added to a test meant to quantify mental acumen, especially when you consider how it would impact those who are physically impaired.
