March 6, 2014, - 3:15 pm
Dumbing Down of SATs Reflects Dumbing Down of US; “Prevaricate” No Longer “Relevant”
They need to change the name of the SATs to SDTs (which is pretty close to the thing students get most out of college: STDs). It’s no longer the Scholastic Aptitude Test. It’s the Scholastic Dummies Test.
The SATs are being dumbed down again, pursuant to whiners whose kids just aren’t that smart and don’t do well on the tests. So what do the SAT police do? They dumb it down and make it easier for dummies to succeed, defeating the whole point of the SATs, which is to test intelligence–the ability to do math problems, to assess the meanings of words, and the ability to reason and write essays. A lot of that will be watered down, if not entirely eliminated, under pressure from minorities (who’ve forever claimed that the intelligence test is skewed against them–are they saying they lack intelligence?) and leftist champions of dummies.
I did very well on the SATs and the PSATs and was a National Merit Scholar Finalist, as a result. I didn’t study forever and “prepare” for the test, other than taking a couple of free practice tests, so I don’t buy the baloney spouted by lefties that minorities and the poor can’t afford expensive preparation courses as an excuse for why they do not do well on the exams. While IQs can go up and down a few points over time, one thing is consistent: either you have the intelligence or you don’t. (Also, when I took the test, we were not allowed to use calculators. The calculator you used was your brain. Remember those? Now test-takers can use calculators for the entire math section, though the changes will allow it for only part of the test.)
But since leftist activists don’t want equal standards and benchmarks in academic excellence and intelligence for everybody, the SATs will now eliminate what it calls “obscure vocabulary,” mandatory essays (they will be optional), a “wide range” of math concepts, and penalties/deductions for incorrect answers. It’s ironic–or maybe not so much–that among what the College Board considers to be “obscure” or “not relevant” are the words “prevaricator” and “sagacious.” Hmmm . . . could it be because many of those now applying for worthless college have equally worthless values, in which prevaricating for any reason is just fine and dandy (cheating is rampant at college these days)? And because sagacity has nothing to do with today’s college applicants? You meet few, if any, you could call “sagacious.” If not, it’s a nice coincidence.
America’s Genius College Students (Who Took the SATs b/f the Latest Dumbing Down Happens) . . .
The other day, a woman told me that kids today are “much smarter” than we were. I told her, I’m not so sure about that at all. I said, “I’m sure they’re much smarter about what the Kardashians are doing,” but the important stuff, history, math, etc.? I don’t think so. They are dumber than ever. The College Board admits that barely 43% of those entering college today are unprepared and don’t belong there. Ya think this dumbing down of the test will make the number rosier? Only if you’re a moron . . . or scored well on the new dumbed down SATs.
I suppose it’s apropos that as colleges and universities become ever more dumbed down and more and more useless, you can say the same for the SAT. I heard an SAT preparation expert say on the radio, yesterday, that she compares this to a woman who is a size 14 suddenly being a size two in clothing without having lost any weight or size. Exactly. That is what the SATs governing body, the College Board is doing: telling you a fat chick is now a hot, skinny one. And that a dummy is now a genius. The people doing this are the same kind who always want equality of results, not just equality of opportunity. And that’s not how real life works . . . or is supposed to work.
We are a nation of dummies for the most part, and so I guess it’s okay that we dumb down the SATs to reflect that. After all, why be better? Why have standards? Why have borders? Why speak English? Just let anyone in–to the country, to colleges–and give up. That seems to be the attitude.
College Board officials said Wednesday the update — the first since 2005 — is needed to make the exam more representative of what students study in high school and the skills they need to succeed in college and afterward. The test should offer “worthy challenges, not artificial obstacles,” said College Board President David Coleman at an event in Austin, Texas. . . .
One of the biggest changes in the SAT is that the extra penalty for wrong answers, which discouraged guessing, will be eliminated. And some vocabulary words will be replaced with words such as “synthesis” and “empirical” that are used more widely in classrooms and in work settings. . . . Instead of testing a wide range of math concepts, the new exam will focus on a few areas, like algebra, deemed most needed for college and life afterward. A calculator will be allowed only on certain math questions, instead of on the entire math portion.
Tania Perez, 17, a senior at Capital City Public Charter School in Washington, said she would like to have taken the test on a computer — and with the vocabulary changes. “Some of the SAT words that we’ve seen, well personally, I’ve seen, taking the SAT … I’ve never heard of them and stuff,” Perez said. “That would have been better for me. I think my score would have been a lot higher.”
Um, never having heard of them “and stuff” is why the words are on the test. They want–or, rather, used to want–to know if you are able to pull apart words you haven’t seen before and figure out their meanings from their roots and syllables. But, now, apparently, words like sagacious and prevaricator are strange new words to America’s next generation of minds of mush. Ms. Perez is a stellar advertisement for charter schools, isn’t she?
Say good-bye, America. We are Mediocrity Nation extraordinaire.
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Isn’t this to make the Non-Asian Minorities feel better about their overall poorer academic abilities? Not to mention the whites that are slowly sliding down the sandpit to join them.
Meanwhile, we can have NAMs and foreigners dominate our STEM industries and jobs.
PitandPen on March 6, 2014 at 3:25 pm