by James A. Bacon
More bad news on the reading, writing and ‘rithmatic front. SAT scores for the high-school graduating class of 2011 fell in all three subject areas to the lowest levels ever recorded, according to data released by the College Board Wednesday. Only 43% of students posted scores high enough to suggest they were ready to succeed at college. (Read the story in the Wall Street Journal.)
One reason scores are falling is that a higher percentage of high school students are taking the exams than ever before. Writes the Journal:
Declining scores can be attributed, in part, to a larger and more diverse test-taking population. As more students aim for college and sit for the exam, scores decline. Ten years ago, 8% of test takers were Latino, compared with 15% in 2011. For black students, the percentage jumped to 13%, compared with 9% in 2011. A growing percentage of students also grew up speaking a language other than English, and more than one-fifth of this year’s test takers were poor enough to receive a waiver to take the exam for free.
The fact is, more kids from disadvantaged backgrounds and crummy schools are taking the SATs. More people are aspiring to college, even though they are not academically prepared for it. Colleges will be happy to take them all, as long as someone can be found to pay, meaning more loans from Uncle Sam to students who may never graduate.
It may be true, as many studies have documented, that an increasing number of future jobs will require a college education. It’s a sad fact that a majority of American children will not be qualified to fill those positions. A large number of jobs probably will be exported overseas.
But cramming more students through the educational pipeline, regardless of their ability to succeed, is (a) a misallocation of society’s resources, (b) cruel to students whose unrealistic expectations are dashed, (c) costly to students who could be undergoing training and earning money in a job, and (d) shackling students with debt that an increasing number are unable to repay. Public policy needs to focus on fixing the K-12 educational system, not extending the practice of social promotion into college!
