Ajit Vakharia
Since its introduction in 1901, the SAT was used as a test to level the playing field for students applying to college from all over America, whether that be from secondary schools in wealthy areas known for having excelling students or poor schools from the mid west now known for not having as many excelling students. Although the SAT was first implemented to give all students a fair chance when applying to colleges, today, the SAT test benefits wealthier people and does not help predict the success a student will have in a particular college.
The SAT was first used to help colleges decide if students that applied would be successful at their college, and the SAT at first did that such as helping Charles Murray from a small town in Iowa get into Harvard University in the 1970s. Today, the test only helps wealthier people more than the less fortunate which neglects everything the test was made for. First, the test costs forty dollars to take, and students are allowed to take the exam as many times as they want until they get a score they are pleased with. This allows wealthier people to take the test a lot more times a lot easier than people who have financial troubles and can only take the test a limited number of times giving wealthier students an advantage. If a students really wants to succeed on the SAT, they usually enlist in the help of a tutor to show them all the "tricks," and good tutors usually charge a lot of money; once again giving wealthier students and advantage over less wealthy people or even the middle class. According to Charles Murray, the SAT does not do a good job predicting a students success in college compared to secondary school GPA and coursework.
The SAT needs to be abolished not because it is a bad test but because it does not do what it was first intended to do: level the field for all students applying to college. Wealthier students gain a significant advantage over middle class and lower class students. If colleges just used GPA and coursework done in high school to determine whether students would be a good match for their college, they would have a more diverse student population of different economic levels and parts of the country.
The SAT was first used to help colleges decide if students that applied would be successful at their college, and the SAT at first did that such as helping Charles Murray from a small town in Iowa get into Harvard University in the 1970s. Today, the test only helps wealthier people more than the less fortunate which neglects everything the test was made for. First, the test costs forty dollars to take, and students are allowed to take the exam as many times as they want until they get a score they are pleased with. This allows wealthier people to take the test a lot more times a lot easier than people who have financial troubles and can only take the test a limited number of times giving wealthier students an advantage. If a students really wants to succeed on the SAT, they usually enlist in the help of a tutor to show them all the "tricks," and good tutors usually charge a lot of money; once again giving wealthier students and advantage over less wealthy people or even the middle class. According to Charles Murray, the SAT does not do a good job predicting a students success in college compared to secondary school GPA and coursework.
The SAT needs to be abolished not because it is a bad test but because it does not do what it was first intended to do: level the field for all students applying to college. Wealthier students gain a significant advantage over middle class and lower class students. If colleges just used GPA and coursework done in high school to determine whether students would be a good match for their college, they would have a more diverse student population of different economic levels and parts of the country.
0 comments:
Post a Comment