"It's not fair that asians get in because they work harder and try harder. We shouldn't let hard work be a determining factor."
But who knows, I'm asian so I'm biased. I had to work my ass off for things while other people went out, partied, slept in, went to bars and hung out with friends. I studied for my standardized tests by going to the local Borders and sitting there for hours without paying for the book but I guess not everyone is that creative.
I felt the article itself presented a fair picture of the sentiments from each corner, though I'm not particularly sensitive to bias.
As for the complaints about test-centrism, I felt they were echoing a belief that life should be and success is about more than cramming and solo achievement.
Extracurriculars, grades, and fuzzy-wooly essays/recommendations may be as strong metrics as standardized testing, but neither are our current tests nearly as good indicators as they could be.
For example, we could do more to promote problem-solving skills by providing test-takers with a much larger corpus, promote a minimum level of teamwork by allowing some collaborative problems, etc. Just some ideas.