Racism and Sexism in Standardized Testing
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As I prepare to take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) in a little less than two weeks, I have begun to think about the politics behind standardized testing. While I understand that colleges and universities need some sort of measure of how to test applicants, the standardized test continues to be sexist and racist. I can only speak from personal experience, but in browsing around the web I have found that other people have written about the problems with standardized testing. Here are some examples of blatant racism and sexism:
- Racism: I was told by many test-prep books that I should learn all sailing and opera/music words. Luckily I used to be a classical pianist, so I have no trouble with words such as "overture" or "aria." But I wasn't so familiar with sailing terms, such as "sextant" ( which is a navigational tool used by sailors measuring longitude and latitude).
- Sailing is usually associated with someone who comes from a wealthy background, and/or has access to a sailboat. Many underprivileged minority kids have never sailed a boat before; how are they ever expected to know this?
- Sexism: While it is known that generally girls excel at standardized tests in reading and boys excel at standardized tests in math and science (see here), I came across an important part of the whole standardized testing culture: consistently referring to an author or writer as a "he" in test prep literature. So what, are there no women writers out there? A week ago, Elizabeth addressed sexism in the literary world in her article Publishers Weekly’s Top 10 Books by Men. As a result of this astonishment, I personally contacted the test prep company (name will remain anonymous) and wrote this:
I have absolutely nothing to complain about the course or the materials that [test prep company name redacted] has provided me---in fact, I find everything helpful!However, I have a problem with something: I am going over the critical reading workshop before my class, learning about the author's "scope," "topic," etc. and find it sexist that [test prep company name redacted] has chosen to only use "he" in referring to "the author."
There are many great women authors who write well (i.e., in [test prep company name redacted]'s terms, have an argument, scope, topic) and you might want to consider changing some of the he's to she's. For information on great women authors, in case you were wondering, go to http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng384/links.htm.
I find it personally offensive because I am a woman writer myself, and to not see my gender represented on practice quizzes for a standardized test makes me that you, as a company, think that women are not capable of writing.
Furthermore, I would prefer someone to address this, as to why [test prep company name redacted] assumes that the author is a male. Let's remember that ETS* is for diversity (see here for Diversity at ETS), and [test prep company name redacted] should go for diversity as well.
Sincerely,
Emily Heroy
*For those who don't know, ETS stands for Educational Testing Services. They write the SAT, GRE, GMAT, TOEFL, PSAT, etc. tests.
While the company responded a few days later, and said that they would try to "fix the problem," I do not think that they completely understand the implications of referring to all authors as "he."
Additionally, as someone who is frustrated with the whole concept of standardized testing, I find that I will not retain in the long-term all of the 500+ vocab words that I have memorized over the past two months for this test. The GRE only tests what the meanings of the words are, not how I use them in context. Additionally, many of the words on the GRE are words used in 19th century Jane Austen novels (i.e. "sextant" used above)---words that I do not use in everyday conversation and/or in my writing.
And finally, while I continue to be bothered by standardized testing, taking a GRE prep course really helped raise my score. What really helped was that the class taught me more about how to take a test and less of the content that is tested. I am fully confident that I will do well on test day. But, those test prep courses cost a butt load, and while I think that it is definitely worth it, what about the students who cannot afford to take test prep courses? How is that fair?
To read more about sexism and racism in standardized tests:
- Standardized Tests: Inadvertently Or Not, They Are Racist from teacherrevised.org
- Failing the Test of Fairness: Institutional Racism and the SAT (from Alternet.org)
- Fighting the Gender Gap: Standardized Tests Are Poor Indicators of Ability in Physics from aps.org
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Comments (1)
I, too, have a problem with an over-reliance on standardized tests in our education system. My husband and I have taken the GRE, and we are currently suffering under his GMAT studying. I take issue with having to prove that I can do math and that I have a good grasp of the English language in order to get into graduate school, when my transcript and college degree would seem to be evidence enough. Since my area of concentration is in the humanities, I feel frustrated that I must summon the rules of trigonometry from the deep recesses of my mind just so that I can write literary analysis or study languages at an advanced level.
And yet... standardized tests seem to be the best way to compare large amounts of students who came from different institutions. They compare everyone according to the same standard - something that's very difficult to do with transcripts alone. They also demonstrate a capacity to study, to learn and to take tests – something that while not being the most important practical life skill outside of academia is actually quite essential to successful participation within it. They’re obviously also designed as a way of weeding out students: someone who can’t be bothered to learn (or re-learn, as is often the case) material that they should have already been exposed to probably won’t be motivated or focused enough in their chosen program. And as maddening and unfair as the tests seem during the preparation phase, there’s a certain level of justice in it: most departments will not expect their PhD candidates in the arts to have aced the math section, just as advanced engineering programs will not weigh vocabulary skills as highly.
As for the concern you share with your readers about the use of male personal pronouns in lieu of female ones, it is unfortunate that there is such a slant. Yet I wonder whether there isn’t a simplicity and consistency in sticking to one gender over the other as opposed to switching back and forth all the time. It’s unfortunate that we don’t have a neuter, gender-neutral pronoun that would work grammatically (we can’t really use “it”). While this may show a bias on the part of the publishers, I am unconvinced that it is indicative of a deeper sexism. Also, while it may be irksome and deserving of a letter to the publisher, it is not the kind of bias that makes it impossible for a woman to study for and pass the test.
I am familiar with different social science research that has demonstrated a biased slant towards White, upper-middle class students - but this has primarily been in college entrance tests like the SAT. Naturally, if the same company writes the SAT and the GRE, the same types of bias would be expected in the latter as well, but I have to wonder whether it is really unreasonable to expect graduate students to have a graduate-student-level vocabulary regardless of background and race. I completely see the point that societal barriers in childhood prevent students from getting in to college when they could turn out to be a very bright and successful achievers- but I'd argue that by the time they start applying for graduate school, they have had at least four years to bring their vocabulary at least up to college level.
America is suffering a terrible watering-down of our vocabulary, and graduate schools are the last place that should be encouraging this trend. While you argue that vocabulary is an unfair metric because it is exclusive to certain groups, I would argue the opposite once an individual reaches adulthood. The dictionary and quality literature are open-access, available to everyone. Vocabulary is also one of the few abilities we can truly improve, since all we have to do is study, read and begin inserting higher-level words into our daily vocabulary.
Posted by MHahn | November 18, 2009 2:57 PM