Maryland students didn't do so hot on the math SATs last year, and now the czar of the University of Maryland thinks we're doomed. "I think the sharp decline is a cause for great concern, if not alarm," said William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland. The state, he said, needs a work force "that is highly skilled in math, science and technology. And the fact that there's such a gap between Maryland and the national average is very disturbing."

That's a little overwrought, don't you think? Every time I hear a professional educator speaking this way -- about preparing students for the "work force" -- I cringe. Not that young people do not need focus in life, a career path, goals, and eventually a job that will provide them with two homes, two cars, a large-screen HDTV and a trip to Aruba every winter. But I have a dangerous tendency not to regard students as mere sprockets the gears of the modern labor force. I like to think of them as maturing citizens of our nation and the Earth. I don't think universities need to build work forces; they need to build great human beings.

Way too much is invested in the SATs. It's big business, and administrators like Kirwan only feed the beast with his alarmist rhetoric. It would be refreshing to hear a professional educator say something like, "I think too much emphasis is placed on the math and science SATs. As educators we should be more interested in the young person behind the numbers. There may be some great thinkers and scientists out there who simply do not test well, and we need to work harder in the college admissions process to consider all a young person has to offer before distressing about their SAT scores."

Check out the findings from Bates College's 2004 study on its SAT policy. Bates has made the SAT optional in the admissions process since 1984, and in the 20-year study found little difference in academic achievement between those who submitted scores and those who did not.