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Dumbing Down the SAT
National Review Online ^ | March 25, 2002 | Stanley Kurtz

Posted on 03/25/2002 4:46:13 PM PST by xsysmgr

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To: toenail
You mean like both Adamses ?
61 posted on 03/25/2002 8:43:26 PM PST by nopardons
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To: PoisedWoman
Very interetsing story !

I agree with your post # 18, BTW.

62 posted on 03/25/2002 8:44:33 PM PST by nopardons
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To: xsysmgr
news that the very existence of intelligence differences in America is about to become a forbidden truth.

Where has he been sleeping for the past twenty (or was it thirty?) years?

63 posted on 03/25/2002 8:53:12 PM PST by mrustow
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To: nopardons
I will focus more clearly. The last election was a disgrace to our great country when we have son of a former senator running against the son of a former head of the CIA. I object to the first Bush's election on the grounds that it invites comparisons with totalitarian states that we should elect the former head of our intelligence service to be President. That election was almost as bad as the appointments of Ford and Rockefeller to President and Vice-President. Washington is a very incestuous place and as someone who usually votes Republican, I am very tired of seeing the names Bush and Dole again and again on our national tickets.
64 posted on 03/25/2002 8:57:23 PM PST by Biblebelter
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To: Red Jones
You're almost correct. Powell didn't go to school 60 years ago ; he isn't that old. What education he got, in Harlem, was far superior to today's public school and some private schools; not ALL private schools. It was probably better than what homeschoolers are doing today, as well, BTW.

How do I know this ? I know, because I am from N.Y.C. and my family went to school ( a public & private mix ) there and some have been in education, in one capacity or another,for over 100 years. At one time, getting good grades on the Regents exams ( state wide exams, which they have so watered down now, that they are just about useless, and STILL many can't pass them ) , were an automatic " GET IN FREE " card, to every ELITE college and univesity in this country. Though younger than Powell, I DO know what and how he was taught in grammar school. It wasn't anywhere near as rigorous, as what my grandmother did , in her day ; but it was still far superior to what is being taught in the vast majority of today's schools.

Instead of all of this feel good coddling, we need to go back to a point in time, when schools actualy taught subjects and demanded students learned ; or were left back.

65 posted on 03/25/2002 9:04:37 PM PST by nopardons
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To: nopardons
"Instead of all of this feel good coddling, we need to go back to a point in time, when schools actualy taught subjects and demanded students learned ; or were left back."

We need to go back to ending all government involvement with schooling.

66 posted on 03/25/2002 9:18:03 PM PST by toenail
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To: nopardons; Biblebelter
(nopardons to Biblebelter) Nobody ever accused you of being able to think rationally either.

Bush is president SOLELY because of his father and paternal grandfather ? What about the fact that his maternal great + granfather was also a president of the USA ? Perhaps it is because he is by nature and nurture predisposed to be an able, capable president .

How many millions of Ivy League grads have NOT been president ? Is that the failure of those schools ?

Reagan's father was a nasty , mean drunk and an abect failure. Bush's father was born into priviledge. All this means, is that America is a wonderful nation, where everyone has a chance to become anything ; still.

Your MARXIST class warfare has no place on FR !

Says the censor.

One of the things that not only makes many of those who proudly call themselves "conservatives" look like goddamned fools time and again, but more importantly does grievous damage to the principles the "conservatives" claim to champion, is their insistence on calling anyone talking about class warfare a Marxist. Folks at different points on the political spectrum hear such pathetic red-baiting, and figure, "Well, if they'll lie about that, you can't trust them to give you the correct time of day!" Then they decide, they'd better protect themselves against such dangerously dishonest or stupid people, and go either with the socialists or with some variation on Buchananism.

Everything I know about class warfare, was taught to me not by Marx, but by rich folk, and by those who were not quite rich, but who desperately wanted to be. I know of only two explanations why a grown-up would deny the reality of class warfare: dishonesty or stupidity. Which is it, with you?

67 posted on 03/25/2002 9:26:47 PM PST by mrustow
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To: jurisdog
Sorry, but vocabulary is not a sign of intelligence, its a sign of culture and upbringing. Unless and until the PARENTS and TEACHERS of the students that are scoring poorly on the SAT in groups are held accountable, I really have no problem with changing the test to measure objective indicators of intelligence (logic problems using plain english, and math, etc.)

The SAT wasn't designed to measure intelligence. There are many good intelligence tests for that, and some of them don't use written language at all.

The SAT was designed for one reason: to set up another entrance criterion for admission to an Ivy League university based on something *other* than ancestry and "legacy." The SAT was specifically designed to predict *good grades in the freshman year.* At a difficult school, high SAT scores will almost certainly translate into good grades freshman year. That's IT. It doesn't measure intelligence, or how much money you're going to make 20 years after graduation, or even what your final GPA at graduation will be.

If vocabulary and language expressions aren't important on a college entrance exam any longer, that probably says more about the dumbing-down of freshman level courses than the SAT's validity as a good predictor of who will do well in their freshman year.

68 posted on 03/26/2002 3:52:57 AM PST by ikanakattara
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To: Biblebelter
Washington is a very incestuous place and as someone who usually votes Republican, I am very tired of seeing the names Bush and Dole again and again on our national tickets.

I agree.

There has been a Bush or a Dole on every ticket since 1976, and it looks like it won't stop until 2016 or so. I can only hope that empty suit from NC, gets cut off before she can get a presidential nomination.

69 posted on 03/26/2002 5:30:15 AM PST by Orion
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To: xsysmgr
the SAT test

I loathe this practice of failing to mentally expand acronyms. SAT = Scholastic Aptitude TEST. Therefore, SAT test = Scholastic Aptitude Test test. Brought to you by the Department of Redundancy Department. < /vent>

AB

70 posted on 03/26/2002 5:37:50 AM PST by ArrogantBustard
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To: Jeff Gordon
Teaching Math in 2000: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $120. How does Arthur Andersen determine that his profit margin is $60?

ROFLASCOMN!!!!!

71 posted on 03/26/2002 5:44:07 AM PST by ArrogantBustard
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