Should The SAT Be Erased?

Open to Debate

Society & Culture, Education, News

4.6 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 26 August 2022

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Last year, only 1.5 million high school students took the SAT, down from 2.2 million in the class of 2020. Covid-19 played a big role in the decision among many schools not to move forward with at-home testing. But the move sparked even wider discussion about the test itself. Currently, at least 75% of colleges actually don’t require the SAT or ACT. That’s an all-time high, with many schools pledging not to return to it. But is that the right move? Proponents call into question the efficacy and inequity of standardized tests, pointing to high-profile college admission scandals, as well as those leveraging access to resources to net higher scores. They argue a more expansive approach to admissions is better suited in selecting students. Those who defend the SAT, however, say the test presents opportunities for smart under resourced students to get into top schools. Removing such tests could actually make present inequities worse. Additionally, the focus should be on addressing the achievement gap, rather than merely changing the way students are evaluated. Personal essays, GPA, extra curricula, they say, are just as easy to game with financial privilege. So in this context, we ask: Should the SAT be erased? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	There's something so romantic about winter and I don't know whether that's just because
0:05.4	I'm a bit of a homebody and I love a 5th but I think it's just the holiday period.
0:09.9	It's just for me it's the most romantic period and I think anyone who's listened to my
0:15.5	records will know that I'm quite a big fan of romance.
0:18.8	Join in every sip with Red Cups now Back at Starbucks.
0:36.2	Hi everybody this is John Don Van and welcome to A Greed to Disagree from Intelligent Squared
0:41.3	where today we're getting the chance to evaluate a kind of unexpected opportunity provided
0:47.6	by the pandemic and that is a fresh chance to examine the SAT.
0:53.6	Yes the SAT that's storied and I suspect for many of us torture this exam for college
0:58.8	admission or it's cousin exam the ACT.
1:02.2	Some tough tests yeah for sure.
1:04.7	Well during the pandemic because they didn't want to crowd kids into classrooms to take
1:08.7	the exam and because there were challenges to making it work as an online experience.
1:14.9	Many three quarters of America's four year colleges decided to drop the requirement of the
1:20.2	SAT for the time being meaning for the duration of the pandemic and what that presented
1:26.0	was something like an experiment because there have long been voices arguing that the
1:30.3	SAT has outlived its usefulness that it's an instrument flawed in multiple ways including
1:35.5	being fundamentally unfair to students from underrepresented minorities and for backgrounds.
1:40.7	But others have argued all along that there really are no better ways or few better ways
1:44.7	to determine which high schoolers are most academically gifted and no better way of predicting
1:49.8	who will do well in college.
1:51.8	One question has been well what would happen to college admissions if the SAT requirement
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