SAT College Entrance Exam Will Soon Score How 'Privileged' Students Are
The SAT exam, which is used in the college admissions process, will introduce a new “adversity score” to measure how privileged students are.
The “adversity score” will measure three categories — neighborhood environment, family environment and high school environment — in an attempt to give less “privileged” students a better shot, according to CBS News.
Each category contains five sub-indicators, which are calculated to determine a student’s “adversity score” on a scale of one to 100. A score below 50 is considered “privilege,” whereas a score above 50 is considered “hardship.”
The College Board, which administers the SAT as well as AP exams, will feature the privilege ratings alongside students’ SAT scores, but the results will only be available to college administrators, according to The New York Times.
College Board CEO’s David Coleman claimed the new privilege rating will help colleges notice students who would “otherwise be overlooked.”
“Through its history, the College Board has been focused on finding unseen talent. The Environmental Context Dashboard shines a light on students who have demonstrated remarkable resourcefulness to overcome challenges and achieve more with less,” Coleman claimed. “It enables colleges to witness the strength of students in a huge swath of America who would otherwise be overlooked.”
“We can’t sit on our hands and ignore the disparities of wealth reflected in the SAT.” The SAT is trying to help capture students’ socioeconomic background with a new adversity score. https://t.co/BMzukrKN6V pic.twitter.com/d3t4sq5tHF
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 16, 2019
But economically disadvantaged students wouldn’t be “overlooked” if their SAT scores were higher. The SAT is supposed to be an objective measure of a student’s knowledge and overall academic ability, regardless of one’s background.
Students who aren’t “privileged” are able to study sufficiently and get noticed as students who are privileged.
And this new score is insulting to the students who are “disadvantaged” but able to enter college with hard work and terrific exam scores.
Additionally, smart but privileged students might be turned away, which would deprive top colleges and universities of American talent.
It should go without saying that the limited openings for students in America’s top colleges and universities should be reserved for the best ones.
Unfortunately, the only thing that matters in American higher education is your identity and privileged status.
This is one way the United States will fall behind China: Liberal elites seem to value privilege and identity policies over talent, knowledge and intelligence.
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