This is and will be the constant refrain: Changing a ridiculous admissions standard to let in more black and brown kids will “dumb down” the elite high schools. Either you believe most blk/brwn kids are less intelligent than white/Asian, or something is wrong with the standard.
There is nothing scientific about this test that says this is the only means to judge whether a student can do the work at an elite high school. This test was designed to produce what it is producing. What elite college looks just at a single test score? NONE.
This is what I also don’t get. If this test is supposed to prove how brilliant and deserving a student is of a spot in these elite schools, why do you have to study so hard to be able to pass it? If you were “naturally” brilliant, you could just pass, right? What is it measuring?
What is it measuring that can’t be determined by grades, test scores, essays? It seems that more than acumen, it shows students who were able, with a lot of studying, to master a particular test. How can you argue against equality of admitting top students from all mid schools?
I was labeled gifted and pulled out for special instruction starting in third grade. You know why? I showed up to school, took the ITBS and scored in the 99th percentile. There was no test prep. There were no boot camps and drills. My parents did nothing but send me to school.
Had there been the type of test that required all of this, or had my peers been placed in years of test prep, I surely would have been at a disadvantage and likely not labeled gifted and folks would have said I didn’t work hard and didn’t deserve access. This is what we’re doing.
This is not about innate giftedness or work ethic, but a system rigged to produce certain results.
My parents did not even know there was a thing as test prep. They could not have afforded it had they known. They assumed, like many parents, that the schools would teach you what you needed to know to succeed — I mean, isn’t that what they sent me to school for?
And I, a very studious and motivated student, worked hard, did all my homework every night, but wanted to play sports, and hang with my friends and watch movies when I was done. I would have balked at test prep. Didn’t make me lazy, or dumb, or undeserving. We need to get a grip.
Last thing, though labeled as “gifted,” I went to regular public schools. I had one special enrichment class each day, other than that, I went to class with my peers. And, funny, I somehow made it JUST FINE. Notre Dame. UNC Chapel Hill. The New York Times. MacArthur Fellow. So.
