SAT and Culturally Biased Questions.

[Guest Ace309]

I've often heard people describe the SAT and other standardized tests as culturally biased toward whites. This is sometimes in reference to the scoring gap, and sometimes refers to the questions being biased toward white affluent students.

 

Aside from appealing to the cultural scoring gap, what is meant by 'a culturally biased question?' While I'm not denying that they exist (I can't very well deny their existence if I don't know what they are), I can't wrap my mind around how a math or reading comprehension question could be inherently skewed toward a race and class.

[Guest EI Cubano]

Basically, cultural bias on standardized tests has to do with questioning that requires one to have a basis of certain cultural elements of American life. Some of the reading questions on the SAT's for example were criticized in the past of being culturaly biased in that the testmakers assumed that all test takers had a basic understanding of the norms of American life. The problem was, alot of the people who take standardized tests aren't American born and raised and may have moved into our country as recently as a week before. Some American Indians living in a much different way than your typical high school student may be every bit as well versed in terms of reading and writing, but can be confused and put at a disadvantage on these tests if terms such as "setting the table" (most famous example) are used in the test without fair explanation given to their meaning. Though in the extreme minority, those who aren't aware of what these symbols and terms mean and stand for are at a disadvantage on standardized tests because they can become confused and slowed down.

 

Another common complaint about cultural bias is that according to research that can't really be labeled as credible, those most similar to the test makers (male, white middle class twenty somethings) are likely to do the best on the test. Like I said though, the only research that has been done on this issue is by the test makers and the coallition against standardized testing, both of whom of course have their own biases. Hope that helped.

[Guest DrTom]

Jay, your example doesn't sound like anything that's biased toward whites or some other ethnic group, but toward people who have lived in this country long enough to pick up the cultural idioms and quirks. Maybe that's part of the complaints, also, but I'm sure some of the complainers would have an SAT written in Spanish if they could. Hell, maybe they already do. My thought is this: when in Rome, do as the Romans do. If you're going to be a part of American culture, you should know about it and be able to function in it.

[Guest red_file]

If you're going to be a part of American culture, you should know about it and be able to function in it.

The response would more than likely be: which American culture? Traditionally white, middle class culture is that which is viewed as American culture, which kinda ignores the fact that there are many other cultures within the country.

 

Analogies were the part of the SAT that raised the ire of groups who claimed that the test of culturally biased. They felt that lower class, inner city, minority students were not exposed to the same types of things as white, middle class, suburban students were and were unable to make sense of the analogies (Some pundits and groups got into trouble, IIRC, for implying that all, or that a majority, minorities were of a lower class).

 

More importantly was the question of the writing part of the SAT. Again, some felt that the traditional view of what constitutes good English would be a detriment to students who used idioms, phrases, spellings, and word order that was more common to minorities. They argued that if an inner city student grew up believing the word was "aight" instead of "alright," then that student shouldn't be penalized for it; his/her cultural was at fault (if indeed fault could be levied in this instance), not the student.

 

There was also some talk about the cultural education divide, but that really doesn't have anything to do with the actual test.

 

I see nothing wrong with the test as is. The response would probably be that I feel that way because I'm from the dominant culture. Feh.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

If I saw "aight" on a standardized test, I would burst out laughing. It would be a wonderful moment.

[Guest Samurai_Goat]

Well, first of all, I'm pretty sure they're cutting analogies from the SAT. As for the writing, well, that's pretty darn subjective in the first place. I remember seeing a guy on T.V. talking about how they were told different ways to judge papers, so they would look for certain things on one paper, and something completely different on another. But, yea, in all honesty, these tests are going to be biased towards the majority group. That's what happens on any test that spans that great an area. They have to shoot for the majority. And with the sheer amount of people being tested, they can't go through each test and say "Well, he was from *insert city/area*, so we should probably give him credit."

 

Just count yourselves lucky. Here in Texas, we got the TAAS test (which has thankfully been disbanded) which would sometimes have two correct answers in multiple choice, or occasionally have no correct answer.

 

And is there a website somewhere that talks about the "setting the table" thing? Or something like it? I don't doubt it exists, I just want to read it for poos and chuckles.

[Guest EI Cubano]

Hey, the thing about "setting the table" was in a documentary that I watched in my "Social Problems" class. The class was more or less a complete joke and was more or less our indebted teacher pleading her case for Socialism all semester, but I know fairtest.org has a good amount of information on the argument against standardized testing.

 

I think standardized testing isn't a bad idea as it differentiates those students who can get straight A's because they are information memorizing robots from the ones who actually can use their knowledge deductively and apply it to real situations, which is about the only way one can be useful in the "real world". They are definitely weighed too heavily in admissions decisions though in my opinion.

 

I couldn't agree more with Tom on "when in Rome" but sadly making a common sense statement that like that these days gets one labeled everything from an elitist to a racist.

[Guest DrTom]

Traditionally white, middle class culture is that which is viewed as American culture, which kinda ignores the fact that there are many other cultures within the country.

So we should have an SAT for every ethnic group, because they have their own culture? Wouldn't it be easier to just expect people to at least learn about the prevalent culture in the country, even if they're not going to practice it? If I moved to Japan, I'd certainly learn as much as I could about Japanese culture, including (and especially) how to speak the language properly. How come America doesn't expect this of people?

 

Again, some felt that the traditional view of what constitutes good English would be a detriment to students who used idioms, phrases, spellings, and word order that was more common to minorities.

How ridiculous. Good English is good English, and has nothing to do with where someone grew up, what color his skin was, or how rich his parents were.

 

They argued that if an inner city student grew up believing the word was "aight" instead of "alright," then that student shouldn't be penalized for it; his/her cultural was at fault (if indeed fault could be levied in this instance), not the student.

Blame-shifting. "Aight" should absolutely count against someone. I would expect someone to lose points for starting an essay with, "Yo, check it," also. Spoken idioms, whether cultural or not, rarely translate well to paper, and it's not just suburban white kids who get to learn that.

 

I see nothing wrong with the test as is. The response would probably be that I feel that way because I'm from the dominant culture.

So am I. I saw nothing wrong with the one I took a dozen or so years ago, and from what I've seen of the more recent ones, they look fine to me, too. I've never looked at a question and thought, "I can only know this answer because I'm white," or, "I can only know this answer because I went to a good school." If we have national standards of education (I know we don't), designing a standardized test around them shouldn't be challenging.

 

The major point is that you don't cater to the least common denominator. Make people rise to the challenge and stop mollycoddling everyone. People have no incentive to succeed if you dumb things down for them and hand them everything on a silver platter.

[Guest bob_barron]

I think it's just people's way of making excuses for why they did poorly on the test