Are the SATs and ACT test biased against poor blacks who attend urban schools?

<p>"Workers of the world unite!"
Thats just plain stupid and not what I am saying at all. I'm saying there should be equal opportunity (publically) to raise yourself and have resources at hand. Not that everyone should have the same wages. If your parents are rich and you can afford to learn more than is required through private tutoring or extra classes all the power to you. I think that should be an option for any parent to educate their children more than public school is providing them with. But when public schooling isn't equal across the board it sets kids up for failure, and they don't learn basics. I'm not saying that a poor person with an 1100 should be treated as though he has a 1600, because that would be horrible to him and the college. I'm saying that he should have the resources available to him to get a 1600 if he really wanted to. Because what is potential if not used? If the kid really is lacking in basic education how is it helping him to send him to harvard? But sometimes this gap in education can be overcome shortly in the first year of college especially in an average college. If a rich kid gets a 1100 and a poor kid gets a 1100 I think that the poor kid's 1100 involved more effort on his part.</p>

<p>"$30 isn't even half a day's pay for those working in even the lowliest jobs. "</p>

<p>Really? I work min. wage for 7 hours each day and barely make $37. </p>

<p>And for all of those rich people who think that "oh, well, if he or she is really smart, like a genius, then it doesn't matter what school he or she goes to, they'll get a 1600." That's total ********. How's someone who goes to a bad school supposed to know what the word "prosaic" means?</p>

<p>Harvard2011-
what is minimum wage in your state and what state?</p>

<p>Actually, I take the bus. Yes, I know what it is like to live in New York. I was born in NY. I lived in a tiny apartment until I was 7. Then we moved to CA, and my dad got a good job. My dad finished high school, and my mom dropped out when she was a freshman. I was never rich my entire life. Also, for whatever money I have ever needed, I have had a job. I got my first job in 9th grade, I pay for what I need. And also, where can $30.00 buy lunch for a family for 2 weeks?? Certainly not NY. If you bought a double cheeseburger for .99 3 times a day, that would be 3 dollars, 4 people in your family, thats $12.00 per day, so that would last 2.5 days or less, eating .99 cheeseburgers. Tell me how you can feed a family for $30.00 for 2 weeks. Also the top 1% has 40% of the wealth because they work their asses off. I know you may be angry at "rich" people for having luxuries, but many earned it through hard work. In CA, my school can not afford paper, they can not afford pens, and they cannot afford teachers. I had 57 kids in my AP English class. The teacher did not even know my name. I know the educational budget is bad, but the state goverments are in charge of the budget, so blame your governer, or write letters to him, or whatever you feel like doing.</p>

<p>Try living in a tiny apartment until your 17, try living someplace where it would be unsafe for me (of light skin color) to walk outside at night.
If you buy a huge bag of rice or boxes of pasta you can feed a family for two weeks. Cans of soups are like 33 cents if you buy 14 cans and as much rice as you can theres a meal for everyone in the family. Not healthy but certainly food. I'm not angry at rich people for having luxuries at all, I'm angry at the government for ignoring the poverty issue in this country. Yes because governors care about nonvoters' opinions. I am certainly not as poor as the people I am describing, and am not vouching for myself as I know that if I were more hardworking I could've got that 1600 as well. But I see people that don't have those opportunities provided to myself. You have a skewed view that people that are wealthy necessarily earned everything they have. Not all rich people are hard workers, and not all poor people are lazy.</p>

<p>I never said all rich people are hard workers, and not all poor people are lazy. I said, "many earned it through hard work" I also never said poor people were lazy, I never even mentioned anything about their work ethic, strong or poor. HAve you ever been mugged or robbed in NY for being "light skinned." Is that just an excuse not to excercise, saying you will get stabbed? New York is as scary as you make it! I know education budget cuts happen all the time. Also if you write a letter to the govener, you can put,</p>

<p>Anonymous Citizen,
P.S. 114 or whatever</p>

<p>No, I workout at home or in the daylight. I've almost been jumped several times theres a projects accross the street from my house at night, luckily I run fast (or in one case there are people willing to help a stranger out). I'm just saying you're making it seem as though poor people are poor because thats what they deserve. I'm not excusing myself for any actions I've committed but I can understand struggles that people face, and the lack of opportunities available to other students. There are things that affected my performance in my life, but poverty not being a main point for me because in my eyes I am not THAT poor (I have the internet at home).</p>

<p>I am just saying that poor people CAN break out of that lifestyle and become prosperous!</p>

<p>as my homie 50 cent would say,</p>

<p>"Get rich or die tryin' "</p>

<p>and I am not racist</p>

<p>"I am just saying that poor people CAN break out of that lifestyle and become prosperous!"</p>

<p>But not all poor people have the same opportunities, and there is an overall lack of public resources allotted to the poor. NYC pays the most taxes in the state yet upstate new york and long island have better publically funded education systems. (More pay for teachers in long island means that long island is getting the best teachers.)</p>

<p>Yes, same in CA</p>

<p>all the good teachers go to private schools, making the schools rep better, causing those kids to get into better collges because of the "school profile"</p>

<p>But these are public schools. It makes no sense why all public schools don't have an equal wage system in the same STATE.</p>

<p>yeah, that is b.s., but it probably wont change, at least not while your still in school.</p>

<p>I'd like to hear your method for creating a test that cannot be prepared for...Any test that is created will have a book to prepare for it by the time the test is redistributed...if anything, it is the maker of the book that is discriminating, but that can be said of anything. Is any product sold anywhere a discrimination because the poor cannot afford it? </p>

<p>Also, the average preperation book for these tests costs around $20 dollars. I don't care how poor you are, if these tests were that important to you, you could find a way to make $20 to buy a book</p>

<p>I've talked to many faculty members about this, and I can assure you all that Harvard and Princeton (for example) do take what kind of a school you go to, income (fee waiver, zipcode, parents' education,etc), and how much of an opportunity each applicant has had into consideration when they look at SAT scores. Relax.</p>

<p>In response to: "Oh, c'mon. Some people might be poor, but the U.S. is not a third-world country. Don't be so ridiculous. $30 isn't even half a day's pay for those working in even the lowliest jobs. You're making it out to be that the poorest people are a dollar away from starvation."</p>

<p>The thing is, that IS the case for some people. It's very true that the US is quite fortunate on a broad basis, but case by case, there are some very, very poor people living here. I'm from NY, in fact-- a "rich" state, I suppose-- but I'm from the rural backwaters of upstate, where in fact I know far too many kids who don't have winter clothes or food on the table or even necessarily what most would consider adequate shelter-- we're talking dirt floors with no water or heat, no jackets in a place with several feet of snow for nearly half of the year, no food because druggie parents have spent all the welfare money to support their habits. Kids can't always do much: what jobs they might have go to feeding themselves or siblings, making sure they have clothes and school supplies, etc. Jobs in and of themselves are an issue-- how do you get one when you live miles and miles away from the nearest town with no car and no money to fund one, anyway? These people are exceptions in what is mostly a still fairly poor but otherwise average community, but just because they're exceptions doesn't mean they deserve to remain that way. Anyway, just voicing in from the rural parts of the country-- they aren't as troubled as many urban centers, sure, but they aren't quite suburbia, either, you know?</p>

<p>stephensploosh:</p>

<p>Have you heard about Russia, Cuba? The government was taking care of all the people. What happened to its economy? It tanked down. Why the employment problem in France where there were riots recently. It has socialist policy? And it has still problems.</p>

<p>If you read US history, people took arms against taxes. Small children should be helped but once they are 15-16 they can work. My kids worked in summer. Government is not to take care of poverty but merely protect innocent from others. If you read the constitution, a sacred document, then there is no mention of providing help for poor. If someone helps you, they are being generous. However, poor has no right on others money. How about a sick person with kidney problem claiming I need kidney from other person because I have a right. Where it stops?</p>

<p>Enough Afro Americans are smart and are successful. Learn from Rosa Park and Martin Luther King who were right to have dreams. They did not ask anyone else to help them in what was the right because they believed in they could do it. That is why they were successful. Why many people jumped on Cosby? After all, he mentioned the problem and offered the solution too. If you think, you want to succeed, then think about a plan and implement it. </p>

<p>Do you think all football/basketball players should get equal wage? Remember US rewards hard work whatever field it may be. What you are telling about equal wages that if I can not compete with you then I have a right to take your one leg or one arm so I can play equally well like you? Does it make sense?</p>

<p>Many illegal aliens want to come to this country and really want to work below minimum wages so they can feed their families. Unfortunately, many parents do not take care of the kids and thus blame the government for it. Government is not the problem, some irresponsible people are who just want to have sex and kids but no moral obligation to raise those kids. </p>

<p>You are right that a 15-16 year old is not at fault to raise siblings. However, do you think that government should interfere in their life. Those parents need to have responsibility. Please think! I have not read US history before coming to America. I learned to read English by coming here. So it could be done, one need to self realize it. You can bring horse to water but you cannot make it drink.</p>

<p>I agree with stockmarket, that is what I was saying the whole time</p>

<p>I never said anything about equal wages, I just think that all public education should be standardized. You obviously didnt read everything I said, and you picked and chose what you wanted to touch on. The constitution doesn't say that there shouldn't be segregation. Its not sacred. Just because something is not in the constitution doesnt mean that its not the government's responsiblity to do that certain thing. Imagine if there wasn't social security, or laws against monopolies.</p>

<p>"If you think, you want to succeed, then think about a plan and implement it." Yeah because children of irresponsible parents can think about this with a mature and educated mind out of the blue.</p>

<p>Please read everything I said, I do believe that children of rich people can have an advantage justly by going to private school, or taking extra classes. But why taxes we all pay be focused on one socioeconomic level and basically neglected on a different level? Everyone deserves the right to an education; and if the public is funding this education for everyone, everyone should be able to get the same education as everyone else.</p>