These four charts show how the College SAT favors rich, educated families

Washington Post ^ | 03/06/2014 | BY ZACHARY GOLDFARB

[Genoa]

Oh yes, environment and morality are important factors. But for someone to suggest (as often happens) that the SAT and similar tests are unfair to the underprivileged is bogus reasoning.

[jimmyray]

QUOTE: "You must not have done too well on the Math part (800 + 800 = 1600)..."

I was thinking the same thing, but you beat me to it. Probably more of a memory thing, or a typo. Regardless, it is now permanently in cyberspace.

[TexasFreeper2009]

you are (or the authors of the study you mentioned) are confusing cause and effect.

think about it.

I could line the walls of a room with 1 million books from birth and it wouldn’t make a group of retarded children smart.

The real truth is that smart people are more likely to own books, and when those smart people have children, those children are more likely to be smart like their parents. The presence of the books wasn’t what was important.

I am guessing that smart people probably make their beds more often than dumb people. Would you believe the results of a study that shows that children that live in homes with their beds made are on average more intelligent? Would you then start encouraging dumb parents to start making their beds to increase the intelligence of their children?

[El Cid]

Regardless, it is now permanently in cyberspace.

LOL! You're right. One typo on the keyboard, and it is immortalized forever.

[jimmyray]

I use that example in class to demonstrate the maxim

"correlation does not mean causation"

[TexasFreeper2009]

that is the ONE thing I REALLY dislike about this particular site. It’s the only site on the internet like this where you can’t edit your past posts.

[Scoutmaster]

I believe that in one of the Freakonomics books, the authors explored the idea that children raised in homes with more books were more intelligent.

The authors explored the data and concluded that the most important key to intelligence was to have intelligent parents.

[jimmyray]

LOL, "immortalized forever", again, great wordsmithing.

That's one thing I love/hate about FR, their is no edit previous post option.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

I thought the SAT was all essay questions now?

[TexasFreeper2009]

Face it, there was a historical reason for the idea of the aristocracy. A group just didn't gain power and create the idea out of whole cloth to keep power forever.

Even before primitive man new anything about DNA and gene's, it instinctively knew that the children of smart people were usually smart too. They were also smart enough to know their very lives depended upon that small group of people with superior intelligence governing society.

[Buckeye McFrog]

A chill just went down my back as I started thinking “Chairman Mao and the Great Leap Forward”.

[IronJack]

Recasting the lede:

The SAT — an almost universal college entrance gauge — will be dumbed down so that we can pretend morons and slackers are as qualified as intelligent, hard-working applicants.

[TexasFreeper2009]

In my opinion, where European Aristocracy went off the tracks, is when it started aggressively denying opportunity to those from the lower class that showed great potential the ability to move up social ladder to the extent their talents would take them, based solely on the fact of their “lowly” birth.

Everyone should be allowed to ascend as high as their God given talents can take them. To deny them that right is to deny society the benefit of their leadership.

[bjorn14]

I got my Mom’s great verbal skills and my brother got my Dad’s great math skills so much so that colleges were offering him scholarships as a soph. I am a math mutant.

[imardmd1]

Ah, I thought this test was about scholastic aptitude, not intelligence. If you grow up in a milieu that hates school, are you going to like it? If the atmosphere is different, won't the outcome be different? Ask Dr. Ben Carson and his mom and brother, eh?

[SharpRightTurn]

Yes, the dumbing down of the SAT continues apace.

[Liberty Wins]

you are (or the authors of the study you mentioned) are confusing cause and effect.

The authors of the study said, "the intellectual environment those volumes reflect — gives children an enormous advantage in school."

It's well known that intellectual enrichment is a strong factor in childrens' neurological development.

[crazycatlady]

I would believe a do-gooder such as Michelle Obama starting a campaign to get people to make their beds for that reason.

[TxAg1981]

"smart" people are smart because they value education.
"dumb" people are dumb because they do not value education.
its pretty simple. A child who grows up in an environment where they see parents reading, studying, working tend to mimic those behaviors.

[ßuddaßudd]

I didnt do to well on the SATs back in ‘83, not privileged, didnt go to college, joined the workforce and have been working ever since...
Fact is ,,, not every kid is college material . . .