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Deja Jones

Selena Wolf Berkley

English 101

15, November 2017

SAT scores determined by family background

Have you ever taken the SAT or the ACT before entering college? Everyone knows that

the SAT and the ACT are both used to determine a students knowledge and what they are

capable of. Receiving a perfect score or even a low score does not determine a persons

intelligence. The SAT and ACT are to help high school student prepare for college work, and

real world material, with that being said students should not be labeled under any category

because of how well or poorly they performed on these test.

Imagine being categorized based on your intelligence, would that make you feel good

about yourself? In addition, students should not be grouped based on the amount of money their

parents make on their tax returns. For example, in the Washington post states, Students from

families earning more than $200,000 a year average a combined score of 1,714, while students

from families earning under $20,000 a year average a combined score of 1,326 (Zachary,

Goldfarb). Moreover, scientist believe that the higher the parents income, the higher the

student's SAT score tends to be. Categorizing students by a parents yearly income is outrageous,

money does not determine how well a student performs academically. Students who live in

single parent households or even their parents income is not as much as $200,000 also have a

high chance of performing better than students, parents who have higher incomes.

Are you a first generation college student, or even the first out of your family to receive

your diploma? Making those big steps in life can be very challenging, having support helps out

tremendously. My opponent argued that a parents education also determines how students
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perform on the SAT. Furthermore, everyone has their own way of learning which makes it hard

to say this. According to the study of Education Next, school systems in the United States poorly

teach those from better-educated families as they do teaching those from the less well educated

(Eric et al ). If this study is true, along with the correct produce, then categorizing students as

more intelligence with their parents having higher education than those with moderate or poor

parents education, students.

Have you ever be humiliated because of your ethnicity? In todays world race/gender

seems to be a predicament. My opponent argued that Asians and whites tend to score higher on

the SAT than other races. With that being said, different humanities, have various ways of

performing their abilities and what they are capable of. As reported by, Reeves in 2017, that an

average black score of 142 compared to an average white score of 153 (Reeves, Richard). If

this study is true, including the policy, then determining if asian and whites are not always

considered as more intelligent than the other races.

Students knowledge are determined by their parents yearly income, parents education

history, and by their own ethnicity. Labeling students in those category can leads up to false

accusations, which allows the students to be labeled before even taking the SAT. With that being

said, these categories does not allow students to perform their best because they are already

labeled to do poorly because of their parents past and money. Students should be able to show

their academic skills and be judged based off how they performed.

Works Cited

Goldfarb, Zachary A. These Four Charts Show How the SAT Favors Rich, Educated

Families. The Washington Post, WP Company, 5 Mar. 2014.

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Hanushek, Eric, et al. U.S. Students from Educated Families Lag in International Tests.

Education Next, 10 Mar. 2016, educationnext.org/us-students-educated-families-lag-

international-tests/.

Reeves, Richard V., and Dimitrios Halikias. Race Gaps in SAT Scores Highlight

Inequality and Hinder Upward Mobility. Brookings, Brookings, 15 Aug. 2017.