Abolish the SAT
Catherine McNeilly
Dr. Corrine Hinton
English1301
September 25, 2014
Abolish the SAT Every year seniors in high school are forced to take the SAT. SAT scores have been looked at as a sign of intellectual aptitude since 1933, but with the increase of tutoring, AP classes, aptitude tests, and higher GPAs, has the SAT become outdated? In Charles Murray’s essay “Abolish the SAT” he argues that, indeed, the SAT no longer serves a purpose. The SAT used to act as a democratizing force that would allow students from low scoring, rural-area schools an opportunity to be seen by prestigious colleges as a “diamond-in-the- rough”
(Murray 251). However, this is no longer the case. According to Murray, the aptitude tests, along with GPAs, tell just as much, making the SAT pointless. Admissions departments look at all the factors of a student before admitting to determine how well they will succeed in college. The GPA of students shows just as much as the SAT scores, and the aptitude tests also show the success rate of students just as much. So, if a student goes to a poor school but has a hunger for learning, they can score high on an aptitude test simply by seeking the information for themselves, and most likely these same students will have high GPAs, so the SAT scores do not show anything more to the admissions people, so why take the SAT at all. The SAT is also well known for being a rich kid game. It is believed that rich parents can buy their children SAT scores, through the best tutoring. However, this is not necessarily true. Statistically, tutoring only ups your scores by 13 or so points, which is not enough to make this point. However, smarter parents tend to be richer, leading to smarter students. So these richer kids tend to do better simply because of genetics. Getting rid of the SAT would help the students who have not had the best of luck in the genetics department. Aptitude tests require studying and hard work regardless of your natural ability and
Dr. Corrine Hinton
English1301
September 25, 2014
Abolish the SAT Every year seniors in high school are forced to take the SAT. SAT scores have been looked at as a sign of intellectual aptitude since 1933, but with the increase of tutoring, AP classes, aptitude tests, and higher GPAs, has the SAT become outdated? In Charles Murray’s essay “Abolish the SAT” he argues that, indeed, the SAT no longer serves a purpose. The SAT used to act as a democratizing force that would allow students from low scoring, rural-area schools an opportunity to be seen by prestigious colleges as a “diamond-in-the- rough”
(Murray 251). However, this is no longer the case. According to Murray, the aptitude tests, along with GPAs, tell just as much, making the SAT pointless. Admissions departments look at all the factors of a student before admitting to determine how well they will succeed in college. The GPA of students shows just as much as the SAT scores, and the aptitude tests also show the success rate of students just as much. So, if a student goes to a poor school but has a hunger for learning, they can score high on an aptitude test simply by seeking the information for themselves, and most likely these same students will have high GPAs, so the SAT scores do not show anything more to the admissions people, so why take the SAT at all. The SAT is also well known for being a rich kid game. It is believed that rich parents can buy their children SAT scores, through the best tutoring. However, this is not necessarily true. Statistically, tutoring only ups your scores by 13 or so points, which is not enough to make this point. However, smarter parents tend to be richer, leading to smarter students. So these richer kids tend to do better simply because of genetics. Getting rid of the SAT would help the students who have not had the best of luck in the genetics department. Aptitude tests require studying and hard work regardless of your natural ability and