By Abigale Paterniti, News Editor
The Scholastic Aptitude Test, better known as the indomitable SAT, haunts many juniors and seniors at River Hill High School. During the pandemic, most colleges did not require SAT scores due to logistical challenges. Now, many colleges and universities across the nation have had to decide if the SAT should be required for admission once again. For many schools, giving students the option of applying “Test Optional” seems to be a safe decision. However, schools like Georgetown and MIT are requiring SAT/ACT scores upon application, and the student’s voice is prominent.
When asked through interviews by Kathy Wren, from MIT News; why MIT is reinstating the SAT/ACT, MIT Dean Of Admissions Stuart Schmill reflects “We cannot reliably predict students will do well at MIT unless we consider standardized test results alongside grades, coursework, and other factors – the tests are something we’ve found we usually need in addition to these other factors in order to demonstrate preparation.” When later asked about his viewpoint on the SAT/ACT structural barriers for socioeconomically disadvantaged and/or underrepresented students, Schmill responded, “It turns out the shortest path for many students to demonstrate sufficient preparation — particularly for students with less access to educational capital — is through the SAT/ACT.”
For the Paw Print, a student lead paper out of Pasadena, California, Allison Zhang writes, “With these eminent schools reverting to their pre-pandemic requirements, more will likely follow. Thus, it is more important than ever to talk about how the SAT is flawed and does not truly represent our ability as unique individuals.” Junior Sophia Chudnovsky, writer of “The Perils Of Standardized Testing,” shares a common student perspective, “it’s just a money-making scheme” when asked about the SAT, finding it ironic that, “they charge so much money now for a virtual test?! They don’t even have to pay for paper anymore.” On a further note, Sophia shared how she feels, “there are so many factors that could affect student success ranging from testing anxiety to having trouble focusing when testing with a screen.”
Beyond the typical student standpoint on the SAT, Sophia elaborates further on the SAT’s drawbacks, targeting its bias against racial groups and minorities, stating, “Extensive research proves that being targeted by well-known stereotypes (‘lack of unintelligent,’ ‘Latinos perform poorly on tests,’ ‘girls can’t do math’ and so on) can be threatening to students in profound ways, a predicament they call ‘stereotype threat.’” These stereotypes negatively impact students’ success on the SAT, contributing to a systematic racial and gender division in the future of education across the entire country.
Not only are racial, and gender stereotypes a negative contributor to the SAT, economic divergences uncover an unfortunate bias in the SAT. John Friedman, Chair of the Economics Department at Brown University, publishes statistics on students who scored 1300 or higher by Parent Income Percentile. 33.1% of students with parent income in the top 0.1 percent, scored 1300 or higher; compared to the 10th-20th percentile, only 0.5% of students scored 1300 or higher. This statistic presented insight into the claim that a student with access to more discretionary funds means they also have access to better education and opportunities.
From Education Week, Ileana Najarro writes, “A student from an expensive, high-quality private school with access to multiple AP courses does very well academically in advanced math courses and also scores high on the SAT.” In other words, a student living in a low-income household does not have an equal chance at being successful on the SAT no matter their persistence, or internal desire to do well.
Whether or not the SAT should be required for college applications is a question on many students’ minds. Some argue that the SAT is beneficial as it’s the only way to measure students’ abilities based solely on their intelligence. However, the education that is required to get a “good” SAT score is not equal across the country. The question is: does the SAT measure intelligence or does the SAT measure opportunity?