Interesting that there are some who stand in such staunch defense of Reuters–an organization that has perpetuated a grossly biased stereotype of Chinese (and to a lesser extent, those of Korean origin) students who will “stop at nothing to lie, cheat, and steal” throughout the entire admissions process.
Interesting that there are some in this thread who don’t seem to recognize that there are many innocent Chinese and Korean students (not even adults) throughout East Asia who currently cannot register for the October SAT because they have been flagged as “security risks” for no other reason than the birthplace of their countries and the color of their skin.
Interesting that some don’t even to seem to grasp the excessive degree of fearmongering instigated by Reuters that has paralyzed many innocent students in South Korea and Hong Kong and China who are scared to register for the September ACT in their home countries for fear of another cancellation.
And so one can only wonder if some individuals on these forums do not harbor the same anti-Asian sentiments that are fueling the fire for the Reuters fanatics to keep launching indiscriminate attacks against those of certain ethnicities who live in certain regions not their own.
Maybe colleges and universities should be proactive and start not requiring the standardized test scores more. I know a bunch do already (Middlebury, Wesleyan) but the big unis should take a long hard look at what they are helping to perpetuate.
I’m well aware of this and am a HUGE defender of the vast majority of Chinese and Korean test-takers who are hard-working and honest. In fact, I’ve been teaching in Korea since 2002.
I’m around hundreds of honest, hard-working Korean students this summer, in fact, and none of them are “paralyzed”–they’re working hard and glad that cheaters are being caught and test security is being scrutinized.
The more attention paid to the cheaters and the test companies’ policies that perpetuate the most egregious forms of cheating, the better chance that things will change, and change would be great for the innocent, hard-working test takers–they may one day be able to compete on a level playing field.
Wait–do you have any evidence of this? Like I said, I’m around hundreds of Korean teenagers this summer, and your comment is the first I’ve heard of anyone being blocked from taking the test. In fact, it’s the first I’ve heard of it in 14 years in Asia.
The evidence is quite evident in your incredulous outburst of denying the exact fact that, ironically, you seem to have acknowledged initially.
How is that in your 14 years of living/working in Asia you have never heard of anyone being blocked from taking the test? It happens all the time for various reasons.
Be that as it may, you are certainly entitled to your opinions and there’s really no point in squabbling over petty points.
What is perhaps even more frightening, however, is the evil that Reuters continues to conjure up, and I can only cringe imagining what blasphemy will be next.
Link please, @markmeyes ? I know tests have been cancelled and test centers have been barred from offering the exam, but I’ve never heard of any individual barred from taking the test. Again: links, please, or give up your shilling.
Perhaps it is true that no individual has ever been barred from taking the test, but I do wonder what would happen if there were a global cancellation of the SAT and no one would be able to take the test EVER again because EVERY single test for all upcoming exams in the CB database is leaked.
Now that would be a really interesting scenario, wouldn’t it be?
Nice backtrack. As for your hypothetical scenario, well, I have no idea what would happen in that case. Hopefully it would motivate the test companies to get their act together and (A) stop recycling tests and (B) lock down their test security.
Well, if we’re to backtrack a little further and we’re to believe Reuters, why is it that the ACT is “laying off its head of security”, when it was [her] unit that “had repeatedly recommended tightening security overseas” for quite some time?
Why would you fire someone actually trying to make a difference? And why is that none of these individuals who were allegedly relieved of their positions or quit of their own volition have anything to say?
In fact, were any of these individuals in question contacted at all? Were they even fired?
Or did Reuters just make it all up?
And this “massive breach of the SAT” that allegedly occurred within the confines of the College Board’s own compound–doesn’t anyone find it odd that some “test development team member [named] Daming Zhu” of the College Board with an apparent bone to pick would reveal so much about purported negligence in securing test items only to Reuters, and Reuters happens to be the first to receive these stolen contents?
Why would such an individual, undoubtedly bound by some privacy or confidential clause, suddenly spill his guts and detail the extent of his “worries” about highly confidential test development procedures to a news organization with whom he most likely had no prior affiliation?
So, yes, if we’re to backtrack a little further and retrace our steps carefully, it seems as if a lot of these stories are plain baloney.
Whoa, there. You’re going to run out of tinfoil at this rate.
No–Reuters has been actively investigating the test prep companies for a couple years. Somebody’s going to be the first to break the story, and it should come as no surprise that the reporters who are investigating tend to be the ones to get there first. It’s even less surprising wen we consider the precipitous collapse of newspapers across the US–it affects Reuters far less because R is a news subscription service that isn’t quite as subject to the vagaries of the market.
With all this cheating and leaking of SAT & ACT info – I really wonder how colleges can take the test results very seriously. Maybe it is not extremely widespread but if a student’s standardized test scores are much higher than their grades and other performance indicators seems some red flags should go up.
I agree, @CA1543 , and I think that’s the case–students with mediocre grades and huge test scores aren’t seen as particularly safe bets because it may indicate either (A) cheating or (B) laziness in school.
I think Reuters should be applauded for revealing the massive testing fraud that is going on in SE Asia. They do not go far enough, however. Colleges & Universities in the US are essentially selling off high competed for spots in undergraduate institutions. You can read about the test fraud at Reuters, but the application fraud you can read about elsewhere.
I do not blame these kids. It’s the Colleges & Universities that are to blame for turning a blind eye to this fraud.