tufts

“Can you tell me about your testing requirements?” I asked. “Do you accept the IELTS or DuoLingo? And how much do SATs factor in?”

Matt smiled proudly. “Tufts doesn’t have a standardized testing requirement.”

I put down my pen. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope.”

“THAT IS INCREDIBLE.”

“I KNOW.”

And then two geeks sat in a room and geeked out over a topic obscure even by geek standards: standardized testing requirements.

“It’s preposterous to ask a kid from the village to take a Scantron test.”

“Right! Think about how weird that answer sheet would look if you hadn’t been taking these tests since you were a kid.”

“Even the motion of filling in the bubble —”

“Right?” 

-

“Native English speakers fail the TOEFL.”

“Right. Kids in the village have no exposure to this level of English. Only the wealthy can afford tutors and classes — not that they don’t also work hard —”

“No, of course, but the student from the village who speaks proficient English does so in spite of his teachers, and that’s arguably a more impressive accomplishment.”

“Ohh my god, I’m so glad to hear you say that!”

- 

“The IELTS costs $200. That’s a fortune to a subsistence farmer.”

“It’s like 2/3 of their yearly income!”

“And fee waivers are only available through programs like EducationUSA.”

“And it’s great that those programs exist, but they only have one location. At least in Malawi it’s somewhat centrally located and fairly easy to get to. What about a huge country like Zambia?”

“Exactly!”

It was all so perfect. Here was a school that understood the limitations African students face, that seemed to have a place for them, and that understood that they could be resources, not charity cases. And their mascot is an elephant.