![WASC looks for more than the basic California State standards. According to chairperson Mike Woo, “As new rules and new concerns come up through society, [WASC] look[s] is the school doing something about that. Like the biggest trend post-COVID is mental wellness. So is your school doing something to address the mental health of the students? Along with are they still doing the proper academics?”](https://theburlingameb.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_3401-1200x1200.png)
![“For me personally, I want [others] to see the music program as a strong union because we can really bring out the life of our school,” Vega said. “We need music, you know? Otherwise, things would be really silent and dead.”](https://theburlingameb.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/unnamed-1200x801.jpeg)
Public schools like Burlingame are feeding into the “elitism” the SAT fosters
On Oct. 14, seniors at Burlingame took the SAT despite most colleges going test optional.
November 28, 2020
Is the SAT a representation of how intelligent you really are? This is an age-old question that has long plagued the minds of high school students, parents and college admissions officers alike. While many schools have gone test optional due to COVID-19, the cancellation of standardized tests including the SAT has caused colleges to reflect on whether the test is necessary at all. Many colleges argue that the test fosters classism, discriminating against people who cannot afford test prep or additional help. Other schools have gone test-optional, while others, including the University of California system, have gone test-blind, meaning that they will not take scores at all. However, for students at Burlingame, test optional does not necessarily mean test optional, as many students have gone to great lengths to take the SAT even flying to different states such as Nevada and Texas. Does this mean that we are part of the elite class that the colleges are trying to dismantle along with the SAT?
It is important to recognize that our school is one where many students can afford to partake in test preparation such as tutoring or classes. If they cannot, our counselors, teachers and access to technology can help us prepare.
On Oct. 14, Burlingame, along with several other schools in the San Mateo Union High School District held an SAT, requiring students to wear masks and sit six feet apart. We are extremely lucky to have had this opportunity, as many Bay Area students were unable to take the test at all, and students felt that this opportunity was too good to pass up. Seniors at Burlingame did not want to waste the money they had spent on test prep due to the cancelled tests this year to accommodate COVID-19, so they quickly flocked to take the test. Although this seems like the logical option, most students in other areas of the county resigned themselves to the fact that they would not be able to take the test. However, SMUHSD pushed to make the test available for students, demonstrating how centered on test scores and grades we are.
This goes to show that the influence of Bay Area wealth can create opportunities for students that are unavailable for those in other areas — not only are our students lucky enough to be given a test unavailable for the many schools in the country currently, but students are competitive enough to take advantage of this opportunity. So how could we not take the test? We couldn’t bear to waste our money on countless hours of Princeton Review and Kaplan subscriptions, as I too am guilty of, so we took the SAT, continuing to increase the competitive caliber of our school when test scores are not even required. Moreover, the fact that we were able to take the test fosters the idea of elitism, as the SAT is designed so only wealthier school districts have students that are formidable players in the SAT. In the end, students at Burlingame and other schools in the Bay Area are a prime example of the classism that the SAT encourages.
So, if a public school such as Burlingame is feeding into the classism that some colleges are working to fight against, imagine what more affluent schools are doing with their students now that most schools are going test-optional. However, there is simply no way to remedy this classism as pressure from parents for schools to offer students a leg up will not stop. Therefore, the best way to end classism in the admissions process is by ending the administration of the SAT.
matthew mcdermott • Dec 4, 2020 at 2:02 pm
I just want to commend the 17 year old student to bravely state an opinion that she knew would be controversial. If you really have a critique of this argument I encourage you to look at an adult journalist that provides an even broader argument against the SAT.
Here is an article from Forbes that gives even more evidence on the shortcomings of the SAT – https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimelsesser/2019/12/11/lawsuit-claims-sat-and-act-are-biased-heres-what-research-says/?sh=1e52528f3c42
Ultimately, the student is not saying students should not be rewarded or encouraged to work hard, but that the SAT does not represent an equitable measure of a student’s overall aptitude.
Al • Nov 30, 2020 at 11:10 am
What happened to the idea of rewarding student who work harder to archive their dream? If it’s not SAT, we need to have another fair and measurable metric to rank the thousands of students applying to the any one of the colleges. Score is a number to tell how well a student can concentrate and work on a task, in this case, study for an exam. Have we entered an era that basic skills of siting down to study to get good at something is not important anymore? Have we switched to the method of awarding students purely base on how we think they should be rewarded, judged by a person’s feeling when reading the student’s application essay? Or by the student’s skin color, or last name?
Why punish students who work hard towards their dreams?
Janine Gerzanics • Nov 29, 2020 at 6:18 pm
As a self educated person who has achieved high educational success due to excessive hard work, diligence, and sheer damn determination, I am so tired of all the talk of victimization. What happened to the belief in the American dream – work hard, get the best education you can and you might just succeed. Yes, there are many students who don’t have the money to take expensive prep courses, but there are also a lot of students who work really hard by themselves to do well. Do I like the SAT exams – as an educator myself I DO NOT, but because of the type of exams they are, not because there are standardized tests. They test memorization not analytical skills or thinking on ones feet. However, some sort of standardized tests are needed as there is HUGE discrepancies between school standards. I teach in higher education, and I see many students who are totally underexposed and unprepared for the academic rigor of college or university. Many should never have graduated high school because they just do not have the necessary skills. We need to stop whining about how victimized we are are, and work hard, study hard and realize that it takes a lot of hard work and graft to get a good education. Am I for elitism, no, but whining about it and complaining is not the way to forge ahead. The only way to push forward is to WORK and STUDY, and for parents to put the emphasis on education it needs. The only way forward is for parents to work at giving their children the best opportunity they can, and for students to work as hard as they possibly can to take advantage of the opportunities their parents offer.
Eric • Nov 29, 2020 at 8:40 am
A lot of hay is made about how rich students have access to better prep, but having taken one of those courses, they mainly just give you some practice tests. I got way more out of a $20 prep book than I did out of the course. So I guess I don’t buy the whole “people are using their wealth to get better scores” angle.
More importantly was that my parents are highly educated, emphasized education, had high expectations for me, and taught me throughout my childhood. But there’s no easy fix for that disparity.