After reading Au (2009) there are new ideas and questions i have about the SAT. Originally I have been skeptical about the use of the SAT as a method in which to “rate” students regarding college admissions. I definitely believe that the SAT is discriminatory based on social class. The pure fact that it costs money to take the SAT can prevent lower income students from being able to have as chance to improve their scores. Being able to have another chance to raise your score was something that was very valuable to many of my classmates and many people just did not have that option. Just as well, test prep was very expensive. If you wanted to have the chance to do your absolute best a top tier SAT prep course or tutor was essential. Just these two things can impact the future of a student who does not have the means necessary to give themselves the best chance to succeed.
However, reading about the possible fact that the SAT could be discriminatory by race was surprising to me. Minorities are generally characterized to be the less affluent population of students who might not be able to afford prep class, thus making them the ones who would be hurt by the SAT being weighed so heavily on college applications. If these are the students who could not afford to take the SAT more than once or who could not afford an SAT prep class, these are the students who might have lower scores. Au (2009) speaks about the strategy of placing new test questions in the mix to see if they will be answered correctly by students who usually would answer the other questions correctly. The students with prep courses, white affluent students (Au, 2009) would be more likely to answer the questions correctly which therefore is already putting the lower income and possibly minority students at a disadvantage (Au, 2009).
My last thought while reading is the fact that yes, the SAT might be discriminatory based on race but what about the idea that being of a diverse background can help your chances of being admitted into colleges? This is something that I heard personally all through high school but never looked further into. If the SAT is discriminatory by race, how does this affect the possible misconception that it is easier for students of ethnic background to be admitted into colleges because we are offering diversity as a part of our application?
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4 responses to “Discrimination: SAT and college admissions?”
As this blog post states, the SAT definitely has a discriminatory aspect to it that needs to be addressed. This made me think about who’s fault it is and how it can be fixed. However, it seems as if the blame can not be pinned on any person or group but rather on the inevitable changing social climate of our country. When the SAT was originally created and administered, it’s purpose was to determine which soldiers would be more qualified to be officers in the early 1900s. This was a time before racial desegregation and the gap between rich and poor was smaller while there was a dominant middle class. This test was titled the “Army IQ Test” and was then administered to high school students applying to colleges. As it gradually became integrated into the college application process, the only thing about the test that changed was the difficulty of the questions as the education system started to involve more math and science. Therefore, the test itself and its target group (aspiring high school students) did not change but society did. With desegregation and increased immigration, the social climate of the US has changed drastically over the last 50-75 years. This has also brought about changes in culture, class differences, and the education system but has the SAT changed as well to reflect our new society and education system? Could it be that the test was aimed at a particular race and/or social class and that it still is today?
The SAT as a key part of college admissions is very interesting to me. While the current test may be biased to one race or social class, I do see the need for a test given across the nation that measures students in comparison with one another. Colleges cannot simply look at a student’s grades when assessing their ability to succeed in higher education. High schools range significantly in difficulty, which means an A in one school may not correlate to an A in another. This can create a significant problem with respect to college admissions. There has been a lot of talk around the current SAT and the new changes to it that I wonder how these will address the above problem.
Bryson, I never knew that the SAT was originally created as a military aptitude test. Thank you for sharing that with us! Do you know what was tested on the original tests? Knowing that may help us understand who it was geared toward.
The SAT has a long and sordid history. For those interested in reading further I recommend “The Big Test” by Nicholas Lemann: http://www.amazon.com/The-Big-Test-American-Meritocracy/dp/0374527512.
The test, as used in college admissions in the 1930s, was supposed to help find “diamonds in the rough.” Finding such students would help open up colleges to students that didn’t match the typical college student of the day (read WASP). Interestingly one population subgroup ended up doing quite well on the tests — the Jews. College administrators were unhappy with the influx of Jews into colleges like Princton, Yale, etc. because they thought these students would change the way the institutions were regarded in the larger society. Administrators sought to limit those admissions by instituting the use of other criteria like “character” into the admissions process.
The introduction of these other criteria, beyond test scores, while negative in the example I provided above, was also used in more positive ways after the 1960s in order to create greater diversity in the student body.
Did you know, for example, that there were only 18 African American students in Harvard, Princeton, and Yale combined in 1960? This situation change a lot by 1970 as a result of protests, riots, and other political changes associated with the civil rights movement.
Today most colleges consider race as one of many factors that they use in making admissions decisions. This has been supported in many court cases with the rational that 1) there is a legitimate educational purpose behind the effort to create a diverse class of students and 2) it is important that college admissions be understood as open to all so as to create a more diver set of leaders for the nation. The practice has recently been critiqued as unfair and some states like Michigan have banned the practice. There is an interesting case in Texas (Fisher v. Texas) that will likely be appealed to the Supreme Court which focuses on the use of race in admissions.
Good post and interesting responses! Nice work!
I’m in agreement with Amanda that the SAT is discriminatory in nature (this is what I wrote my blog on as well!). However, like Hannah pointed out, the SAT is also a really useful comparative resource in the college admission process. To play the devil’s advocate, I think to some extent there needs to be something constant across the board to compare students to one another. Furthermore, the SAT provides a standard for comparing colleges against one another.
As a society and market economy driven by competition, could we keep the college process running without this comparative measure? Would an alternative, like an interview, provide the same sorting information? Could we instate another type of IQ test (that can’t be studied for) in place of the SAT?