Yup, you read it right here in this very paper. The College Board says the SAT scores are dropping; even in Indiana. Everyone is getting dumber, and the world will soon tilt off its axis as people forget how to breathe.
That is, if you were to believe some of the alarmist responses to this new data from a bunch of people who feel vindicated in their opinion that young Americans are very close now to being technically classified as 'post dumb.'
Of course this is a fantastic hyperbole, but it does seem to reflect the general feeling about the American young people that many have.
And, I disagree with it completely. I'm not an optimist by any stretch, but I find myself becoming one in opposition to people whose pessimism is such that behave is if the sky is falling.
Before any conclusion about the data can be reached, we must first ask the important question: Are lower SAT scores really a significant problem?
I don't think they are. It's just simple reason.
The College Board is saying that they're seeing lower scores than they have in the past. But they're seeing that in a test that changes every year, and recently underwent significant structural changes. Any discrepancy in test scores is most likely to be the fault of the testing instrument, the test itself, rather than the people taking it.
And even if the SAT were a perfectly calibrated testing instrument year after year, do any of you that didn't score tip-top on the SAT feel like you're having difficulty here at Ball State in an area the SAT tested?
I don't think that you are. And a more important question; when has the SAT ever been relevant as a general aptitude test? Answer, never.
It's a knowledge quiz.
When I took the SAT, the math portion was a test of how well you remembered algebra and geometry concepts. It didn't test overall reasoning skills. I was an AP Calculus student at the time who scored lower on the math portion than I should have because I couldn't remember geometry and algebra that I had taken two years prior. Yet, my reasoning skills were good enough to land me in advanced placement classes.
The verbal portion does do a better job of testing basic reasoning skills, but it shoots itself in the foot by making the subject matter of the questions too obscure.
I can do analogies, but I cannot do analogies between two really obscure words that aren't anywhere in the lexicon of useful verbiage.
The SAT is treated like an aptitude test by most educational institutions, but when more advanced students end up with lower scores it ceases to be an aptitude test. And it also ceases to be an aptitude test when the trend is such that the only people who seem to do super well on the test are the same ones who have taken it multiple times and have studied with prep courses specifically targeted at the SAT.
Lower SAT scores just mean students weren't able to cram as many words or geometric theorems in their head as previous years.
I realize that the most recent SAT included a writing portion, but I have a hard time believing that an organization that relied upon a nerd trivia quiz for its flagship testing instrument will be able to accurately assess the new writing portions of the exam.
In conclusion, we are not getting dumber, and the sky is not falling. We're just not matching up to the same point on a ruler that is constantly changing.
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