Post 1 (340): About Standardized Tests Part 1
Inspired by Pinqiao’s (Jerry) question about SAT and GPA in his 5/27 post “Week 1 Discussion” in our asynchronous discussion board, I want to write a bit about the prevalent standardized tests. As a Chinese student (and an Asian student), I face much higher requirements on SAT and GRE in the application process. Fortunately, in a very recent report (see link below), I noticed that the whole UC system admitted their discrimination against minority students on these tests and announced these tests are no longer mandatory for applicants until 2025.
So, what are the flaws of these standardized tests?
On the one hand, these tests employ mechanic, and usually overwhelming, measurements to evaluate students’ English proficiency. In TOEFL and SAT, students need to read around 4–6 passages and answer approximately 50–60 questions within one hour. This means that even if students do not read the passages at all, they have just about 1 minute to answer each question and there is no need to mention when students have to read the hundred-year-old complex passages. In GRE, one has to recite thousands of complex vocabularies and fill dozens of word-filling questions. As I had just taken one GRE test last week, I have to admit that I merely recited these words without knowing the nuance differences between synonyms and the specific conditions to them in writing. Moreover, these tests usually take straight 4–6 hours in total, which is absolutely dehumanizing.
As far as I know, an ivy-level Chinese student needs to obtain almost full scores for TOEFL, SAT, and GRE (respectively around 115/120, 1550/1600, 332/340). But are they truly “clever”? Such test designs compel students to seek question-answering and exam-oriented techniques rather than truly understand the passages. Maybe the tests can select those who can recite the most words and obtain the highest scores, but definitely not the most intelligent ones because being a true scholar requires comprehensive qualities such as daring, tenacity, and persistence other than reciting vocabs, speed-reading, writing modeled essays, etc.
On the other hand, these tests are naturally more suitable for American students and discriminative against other students. Since basically, all reading passages are excerpts from America’s reputed speeches, prominent journals, and local publications, they are culturally more appealing to Americans. For example, on a very general aspect, can international students really know about Thomas Jefferson, Civil War, and American feminism activities better than American students do? In most cases, we cannot. In other words, these tests have become an educational hegemony that forces non-American students to learn about U.S. history and culture and eventually compete with American students in their native language, which is ENGLISH.
Over a long time, these discriminations and unfairness become a default setting for new students to follow and an effective method for elite whiteness to uphold their superiority.
Can we counter it? Do we just abandon all these tests? How should colleges select students? Is it just an educational unfairness or an inherent nationalism? In Part 2, I will explain why abandoning standardized tests and achieving equality is a paradox, and what should we do.
