Andre Beracha ‘26
SATs continue to be a crucial aspect of the American education system. Unfortunately, the immense pressure of standardized testing erodes students’ confidence and gives them a false measure of their overall ability.
According to Big Future, a well-known college planning tool, the SAT “gives [students] a standardized measure of [their] academic abilities.” Despite this innocent-sounding concept, this “standardized measure” is inaccurate and biased.
In the 1920s, there was a eugenicist named Carl Brigham. He was concerned that “racial mixture” was lowering America’s overall intelligence. In particular, he cited Black Americans as “dragging down our intelligence.” This man invented the SAT.
Brigham’s racist intentions in creating the SAT were clear, but there are still questions about the SAT’s overall validity and accuracy.
For instance, in a 2020 study in The Quarterly Journal of Economics, researchers found that SAT scores are noticeably higher among wealthier students.
Furthermore, it becomes incredibly difficult to determine the accuracy of the SAT and its positive or negative impacts as a result of persistent racial and socioeconomic biases displayed within institutions affiliated with it.
I decided to ask the student body themselves how they feel about standardized testing.
Kyle Hessamfar, senior class president, said, “It serves as a good measurement of a student’s surface-level capabilities, but can at times negatively be perceived as a measure of students’ overall intelligence.”
Hessamfar is correct. SATs cannot accurately determine a student’s potential or ability as well-off students disproportionately perform better than their lower-income peers.
SATs are not a good indicator of personal or financial success, although they are inevitably a significant contributor to the disproportionate advantages students have in the long run. A study conducted by the Harvard Business Review showed a 19% increase in financial success with top university graduates compared to those from globally average ones.
The Quarterly Journal of Economics study mentioned above also found that “at any given level of SAT/ACT scores, children from higher-income families attend more selective colleges,” suggesting that low and middle-income students “undermatch” to colleges.
In other words, the lack of SAT preparation potentially lowers scores for underprivileged students, but higher scores are also less likely to get them admitted to the most selective colleges.
Even so, it’s also difficult to truly grasp what exactly the SAT is testing.
Mr. Jonathan Gerelus, Director of College Counseling, said, “SATs don’t create a direct correlation between success and failure.”
SATs do not have a strong correlation to a student’s success. They only test a few subjects and fail to display a full understanding of a student’s capabilities. As students, we should explore our skills and knowledge in various areas instead of simply holding standardized testing to be the sole judge of our learning.
Being a student is more than just the test grades: it means being willing to educate yourself as an individual and discover different interests and talents. Why should you allow a test formulated by closed minds to impair the necessary confidence imperative for creativity and learning? I know my worth is more than the 1,600 points on the SAT, and you should too.