Mason  🏃‍♂️ ✂️

We are talking about a handful, a handful, of individual cheaters on the exam versus large population-level confounds of SES that afford the more uninterrupted time, directed study, and support for a whole section of the population with higher incomes. Using outliers is sloppy.

You should read the article

We should not assume that standardized tests are a "universal" and "objective" measure of knowledge as widespread evidence suggests SES influences the development of stress responses (i.e. testing situations), which don't necessarily correlate with knowledge about a subject.

Standardized test proponents dont have to prove the SAT doesn’t favor the rich - it does! We have to prove it favors the rich *less than everything else*. Rich parents will try to game everything for their kids. Tests are much less gameable than internships, extracurriculars, etc

Sure, I get that. Nonetheless, the design of the test may be (unintendedly) *systematically* confounded with known differences in how SES interacts with the development of abilities needed to succeed in a testing situation (attention, self-restraint, and stress).

True. But as a former student from a low SES background who attended applied to elite schools based on my test scores, the movement to eliminate these tests scares me. At my institution, the campaigns always came from more privileged students who didn’t realize /1

How important these tests were for social mobility. Test scores were my only way to compare myself to rich, private school students. I never considered I was good enough to *try* to apply to elite schools until i got my test scores. The college process is confusing and complex /2

Making it MORE complex doesn’t help underprivileged students. It helps the students who have college counselers, parents/friends who attended elite schools, and plenty of time dedicated to navigating the process.