<p>mercymom,</p>
<p>Were you reading this New Yorker article by any chance?</p>
<p>I am all too familiar with Gladwell's own college application experience.</p>
<p>I must admit, the SAT was a reality check for me. My good-but-not-great scores have vividly displayed to me that i must work hard in order to succeed, and that even though i have high grades in high school i'm not particularly intelligent. </p>
<p>Of course, actually taking the test sucks, but so do many other things, so that's alright i guess.</p>
<p>What I mean by that is not moral goodness, but how good you are as a human. Anyone can criticize anyone, and many very smart people choose a lower paying job to have more free time or do good in society. People want people to be like them, religion, politics, urban, rural, suburban. I believe in raising my 4 kids in New York City, Manhattan, liberal, atheist and studying a lot, doing sports, learning languages, competitive, etc. The SAT Test doesn't care. Perfect tests come from kids with fathers like me or from fathers who are Born Again Christians, Homeschoolers, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, liberals, conservatives, moderates, hippies, yuppies, rednecks, etc. 27% of perfect scores are Asian in an under 5% Asian Nation. That's what I mean by morally neutral. You can always criticize someone, judge someone, etc. and money can be partly luck, though I do think the average person making 150k is far better than the average person making 45k, it's not always true, luck, looks, connections, etc. are factors. The SAT Test is a true measure, one person is better than another with a number which sticks with you for life. It's a true measure of human goodness, no bias, no moral point of view (doesn't favor people who want to make a lot of money over the poor by choice, doesn't favor one religion or race, etc.). The SAT test is like, hey, how good are you, now prove it! It's great that something like this exists in society.</p>