Written by:
dperel

Up to Standard? Tests and American Education

For the little that is widely known about the monopoly triumvirate of American college entry exam companies, students, parents, educators, and legislators certainly put a lot of faith in them. The College Board, ACT, Inc., and ETS (a company that often does contract work for the College Board), three names infamous to most high schoolers, dominate the college entry exam market. Their exhausting, expensive, and discouraging trials are accepted as the de facto reality in American education, but a quick inquiry into the conditions under which this system is forced upon Americans presents a curious study in the effects of corporate control of the business of the People. Under a scrutinizing look, it seems that the American educational system, both public and private, has become the victim of shoddy products in an uncompetitive market. This monopolization has led to educational priorities being decreed from corporate campuses rather than academic ones.

$55 million in profits and $750,000 in direct political lobbying are probably not the first two figures that come to mind when thinking of the College Board, but they open quite a gateway into picturing the state of American higher education. Despite the label of non-profit, these corporations bear little distinction from any company listed on the stock exchange. All three testing companies make large profits, are lead by well-paid directors, and lobby Congress to further their own interests. They are dubiously chartered as non-profits, despite criticism of and FTC investigations into their substantial yearly profits. ETC even runs for-profit subsidiaries under its non-profit umbrella. In short, they are groups of non-elected quasi-officials with a specific self-interest who have niched themselves neatly into the American education system. At their best, they are unofficial toll operators on the road to college. However, the very tangible effects of their imposition illustrate that the actual case is far from the best scenario.

College entry tests, designed by these boldly profitable and self-appointed companies, profoundly shape America's learning culture. High school curricula are geared toward the SAT, a test that measures with questionable accuracy only one type of intelligence of our incredibly complex brains. AP courses are notorious for teaching formulaic and fast-paced material for the goal of passing the test rather than for building a base of knowledge. Countless Saturdays and weeknights are spent, along with millions of dollars, by high schoolers and their families in preparation for these tests. Those who cannot afford the test prep materials, classes, and time commitment are left behind. Financial aid from the test companies is notably poor. The stress and anxiety of the multi-year process, culminating in a once-and-for-all appraisal of one's academic worthiness are burdensome. The test questions themselves often have nothing to do with reasoning ability (many hinge on arcane facts such as whether zero is even or odd), and it is highly suspect that the process of fast learning and formulaic regurgitation teaches anything but poor study habits.

Beyond the narrow-minded, time-consuming, and costly test systems themselves, there is principle at stake in America's submission to the corporate standardized testing systems. A hallmark of democracy is freedom from the decrees of despots and tyrannical committees that have no elected representational capacity. 'No taxation without representation' is a way our forefathers put it in 1776. The power invested in these corporations, the power to test, can be thought of in similar terms as the power to tax: It is also the power to destroy. The education of every college-bound American, whether educated in the private or public system, is putty in the hands of these corporations who exercise all the power with no public input. The stretch marks from the resulting manipulation are evident. With such low-quality tests shaping curricula, is it a surprise that America's high schools lag behind those of other developed nations? How can students develop a zest for learning when they cram facts and formulas point-blank into their brains rather than developing a crafted sense of taking a second look at the information presented to them? What graduate of this system feels that they can make a positive impact teaching it to a new generation of students?

These testing companies have the right to market and sell their products, but their dominance forces students, families, and schools to become customers who bear significant costs, financial and otherwise. Testing is a necessary metric for an imperfect educational system, as only what gets measured gets done in a large organization. Certainly no test is perfect, but by keeping in mind that the tests create the curricula, a publicly and openly sourced testing system could easily be devised. Input from universities, schools, and educational authorities could all be incorporated. An example of an existing better test that could serve as a template is the International Baccalaureate program, which emphasizes interdisciplinary, intercultural, and critical thinking. The College Board, ACT, Inc., and ETS should be forced to compete with a better, publicly run, university endorsed test system that would decide the curricula instead of private tests. Then the SAT, ACT, and AP systems would then be forced to prove their worthiness and utility in a competitive market. Meanwhile, public test-makers could be held accountable for their work. By creating a competitive test market and removing corporate decree over schooling, American education could take a giant step towards being the world class system it desperately needs to become.

Thanks to Flickr for the picture.