The Long (and Sometimes Expensive) Road to the SAT

The Long (and Sometimes Expensive) Road to the SAT - New York Times:

"MARK KROESE, of Medina, Wash., spent more than $2,000 on SAT test prep classes, books and tutoring for his son Daniel. Mr. Kroese said the tutor deconstructed the test format, taught Daniel logical strategies and pacing, and gave him confidence."

This article raises two important questions.

1. Do test preparation courses provide an unfair advantage for children of well-to-do parents leaving poor children behind?
2. What ethical questions arise as a result of test preparation?

Regarding the first question, the answer appears to be obvious. Those that can afford these expensive courses appear to have a clear advantage over those who can't. Is that advantage limited to being able to afford expensive courses? I think not. The advantage of the rich over the poor in school goes far deeper than that. Issues of school funding, the design of curriculum, standards and assessment all favor the middle and upper classes at the expense of the working and welfare classes in the United States. The advantage extends largely to white students leaving students of color struggling to achieve in school. John Dewey argued that the real worth of the advantaged is how they are willing to support public education for those less advantaged then they are. In Dewey's mind, all citizens are entitled to a fair shake at learning.

Ethical questions abound with regard to test preparation courses. The issue of advantage over disadvantage is one that separates the class structure in America. The question of unfair advantage is an ethical issue with which we have not yet come to grips. Additionally, the question as to whether test preparation is cheating can be raised. What about the competitive nature of college preparation? I could go on but I will stop here.

George Hillocks writes in The Testing Trap: How State Writing Assessments Control Learning (Language and Literacy Series (Teachers College Pr)) that tests tend not to align with standards and are inherently unfair. Nicholas Lemann's The Big Test : The Secret History of the American Meritocracy presents a vibrant historical view of the American obsession with testing while addressing issues of class division.

Zoundry

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