Two-Track SAT Is No Solution
Re “A Two-Track SAT Test Is Needed,” Voices, March 5: Though I commend Kevin Zhou for thinking of a solution, I disagree with his proposal. “Tracking” disadvantaged students into a less-rigorous SAT test would only be the beginning of the slippery slope.
A less-rigorous test would stigmatize a potential college applicant. How would a college know whether that student could live up to the rigor of its courses after having the SAT dumbed down in his favor?
Being a student from a “disadvantaged” background myself, the practical consequences seem far-reaching. It almost hearkens back to the days of African Americans being pushed toward factory and service jobs, while their Caucasian peers were pushed to college or white-collar positions. A true intervention would raise the entire foundation of the U.S. secondary education.
Alan M. Torres
Loyola Marymount
University, Class of 2005
Los Angeles
As someone who teaches classes on SAT review, I take exception to Zhou’s article. The SAT is not based upon classroom instruction but rather on an ability to understand vocabulary and logic. The need for new textbooks, etc., is not relevant. The essays will not be graded on substance, but style. If one studies vocabulary and takes advantage of the numerous study guides available, a satisfactory score on the SAT is easily obtainable.
Andrew H. Olson
Gainesville, Fla.
Zhou mentions that 68% of high school students were at or below the basic writing level in 2004. The SAT’s new writing section is designed to combat that problem by assessing basic writing skill and simple analytic thought. Implementing a longer essay would lengthen the already extensive 3-hour, 45-minute duration of the test, feeding on the fatigue of its takers.
As for rhetorical strategies and diction, students unable to take Advanced Placement English classes, in which such devices are taught, would be at a severe disadvantage.
The basis for the exam itself is the creation of a common measuring tool. A second aptitude test would undermine the concept of the SAT. The only real way to close the gap between the wealthy and the underprivileged is to improve educational facilities in poverty-stricken areas and curtail the rampant enrollment in preparatory classes.
Sonal Mittal
Junior
Tesoro High School
Mission Viejo
