Prometheus 6

Charles Murray. Of The Bell Curve. Again.

The American Enterprise Institute sponsors this pig, and I wish I could say no one pay attention to him but he KEEPS GETTING FULL COLUMNS ABOUT HIS BILE IN THE NEW YORK TIMES.

He wants to abolish the SAT...not because it unfairly favors those with sufficient wealth to prepare for it, though

Mr. Murray takes his argument a step further. “The children of the well educated and affluent get most of the top scores because they constitute most of the smartest kids,” Mr. Murray wrote. “They are smart because their parents are smart.”

It is in the genes, he believes, rejecting the notion that wealth, privilege and cultural familiarity might be responsible for success instead.

This is the same point made in “The Bell Curve.” Although the brief sections of the book devoted to genes and race dominated debates, the authors’ overarching theme was about the widening gap between the successful, wealthier “cognitive elite,” who are marrying each other and passing on their talents and smarts to their children, and the impoverished underclass, who are leaving their children a legacy of weakness.

...but because people think wealth, privilege and cultural familiarity might be responsible for success.

Unlike other critics of the SAT, Mr. Murray does not see the test as flawed, nor does he think that the wealthy have an unfair advantage because they can buy expensive coaching. But he recognizes that most people do not agree with him and believe the test is rigged to favor the rich. “It is a corrosive symbol of privilege,” he said.

And so, he concludes that college admissions offices should reject the SAT and substitute other standardized tests: subject or so-called achievement tests that gauge knowledge in specific disciplines like history or chemistry.

And other wealthy people agree this perception is a matter of concern.

Mr. Fitzsimmons, who is chairman of a commission on testing organized by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, said, “We’re going to be talking about these issues” when the commission meets next week at the association’s annual convention in Austin, Tex.

Mr. Fitzsimmons said he sent every panel member a copy of “Abolish the SAT,” an article Mr. Murray wrote this summer in which he outlined his new idea.

AND THIS KEEPS GETTING FULL COLUMNS IN THE NEW YORK TIMES.

People have been finding problems with their dependence on the SAT to narrow the field. The pig jumped on the bandwagon to get another chance to piss in the pool. AND THE NEW YORK TIMES KEEPS GIVING IT TO HIM.