My posts on this blog have been sporadic lately, and that’s largely because, back in March, I began a new job as an English tutor at a local juvenile lock-up center. We’re on a break for another week, so today seemed like a good day to get back to the writing. It’s especially fitting because this Independence Day break coincides with the recent Supreme Court ruling limiting affirmative action programs for college admissions.
In addition to my tutoring job at the detention center, I also still serve as an instructor for Doorway to College Foundation (DW2C). In this role, I help students prepare for their college admissions tests. So, with the two jobs combining to provide a distinctive perspective, I intend now to share that view.
Caucasian-Based Education
I begin with this caveat: The SAT is changing; after nearly 70 years of paper-and-pencil testing, the SAT is finally going digital. The new, digital format will be shorter, and—we’re told—more user-friendly. Having not yet seen the new test questions, I can only hope that the folks at College Board are true to their word. I can also hope that the SAT question writers have factored cultural differences into the test. If they have, that could be an even bigger change than the formatting update.
So far, the SAT—and the ACT—have been rigidly directed toward what I’d refer to as a traditional Caucasian-based education. That rigid direction likely has at least some connection to the minuscule turnout of minorities at the DW2C seminars I present throughout southwestern states. Why would a minority student choose to pay a significant fee and spend five hours sitting in a seminar based on helping students prepare for a test measuring knowledge of a culture that student witnesses only from afar?
Some would argue that it’s good that college admissions tests are aimed at measuring traditional forms of knowledge accumulation. I don’t disagree. I think we should measure such things. But such measures should not be exclusive. Those who argue for the status quo do so, I’m sure, because they see value in having a common knowledge base. Again, I don’t disagree. But the overlooked factor in that contention is tied to what should be included in that common knowledge base. Should it be just those elements introduced by white culture? (I realize that I’m now getting perilously close to a discussion of Critical Race Theory—a topic worthy of a separate post.)
Here, now, is where my more recent experience with my new job provides more insight. I’d estimate that the racial makeup of the teens at the detention center is approximately 40 percent Black, 40 percent Hispanic, and 20 percent white. After working—at least briefly—with nearly every teen in the center, I’m confident in saying that every one of them is intelligent and capable. (Sure, they’re in lockup because they broke laws, but that does not mean they are mentally deficient.)
In working with these teens, I’ve observed that the white kids tend to have an easier time interacting with the provided curriculum. But I’ve also concluded that the reason the white kids tend to have an easier time of it is that the materials are prepared—I’m assuming here—by white adults coming from a white worldview and white perspective.
More Than Repairs Needed
The notion of the USA as a “melting pot” where folks from myriad other nations and cultures meld into one merry monolith all moving in the same direction is and always has been a myth. We are one nation, but we are many cultures. So, why should one among those many cultures be favored to dominate the selection of the elements that compose our common knowledge base? (Shame on anyone or any group not of Native-American heritage who dares to claim it’s their right to set the education agenda because “We were here first.”)
I refer here to more than merely adding more references to prominent African-American and Hispanic leaders and key events involving minority Americans. I refer to adding questions that account for different philosophies and different learning styles based on the nation’s varied cultures. Because I’ve spent most of my 69 years steeped in the Caucasian-based educational system, I’m not the best person to develop a more inclusive college admissions test, but someone needs to do so.
In most states, our public schools have increasingly adopted curricula that are more inclusive. Now, it’s imperative—for our nation, not just for minority students—that our college admissions tests become more inclusive. Until then, I pray we find some way to undo the damage that will be caused by the Supreme Court’s decision to drastically limit affirmative action in the college admissions process. Affirmative Action was the stop-gap remedy. A whole new minority-inclusive testing process is the solution.
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