Michael Goodine's Reviews > None of the Above: Behind the Myth of Scholastic Aptitude
None of the Above: Behind the Myth of Scholastic Aptitude
by
by
In 2021, as we witness what might be the death knell of the SAT, it is worth returning to David Owen's "None of the Above" for a moment. Though his book was published 36 years ago (and was based on an article in Harper's some time before that) the arguments are pretty much the same as those being made today. Go figure.
You can read in this book about:
1. How the test is frivolous.
2. How the test's creation is suspect.
3. How test security is problematic.
4. How the test functions as a money-printer for its creators.
5. How the "cult" of mental measurement has some problematic origins.
Of course these arguments were made in books before this one, and in many books after this one. What makes Owen's work more compelling than most is the irreverent tone. Take the opening lines, for instance:
"The not-for-profit are different from you and me. Tennis courts, a swimming pool, a baseball diamond, a croquet lawn, private hotel, four hundred acres of woods and rolling hills, cavorting deer, a resident flock of Canada geese. I'm loving every minute here at the Educational Testing Service, the great untaxed, unregulated, unblinking eye of the American meritocracy."
The text is full of hilarious bon mots like that one.
Anyways, a few things have changed since the book was published in 1985, and are worth mentioning here. They are:
1. College Board now creates most of the SAT questions in-house, and does most of the related research themselves. ETS merely handles some administrative duties.
2. Both ETS and College Board have become even wealthier than they were in the 1980s. I doubt even Owens could have predicted the 2.1 billion (ETS) and 1.6 billion (College Board) of assets under their control.
3. The SAT was revised in 2016. There are fewer obscure vocabulary words on the current test. That's something. The new version experiences some security problems. That's something else.
4. The SAT subject tests were eliminated in 2021. As was the SAT essay question.
Note: A second edition of this book was published in the 1990s. I haven't read it.
You can read in this book about:
1. How the test is frivolous.
2. How the test's creation is suspect.
3. How test security is problematic.
4. How the test functions as a money-printer for its creators.
5. How the "cult" of mental measurement has some problematic origins.
Of course these arguments were made in books before this one, and in many books after this one. What makes Owen's work more compelling than most is the irreverent tone. Take the opening lines, for instance:
"The not-for-profit are different from you and me. Tennis courts, a swimming pool, a baseball diamond, a croquet lawn, private hotel, four hundred acres of woods and rolling hills, cavorting deer, a resident flock of Canada geese. I'm loving every minute here at the Educational Testing Service, the great untaxed, unregulated, unblinking eye of the American meritocracy."
The text is full of hilarious bon mots like that one.
Anyways, a few things have changed since the book was published in 1985, and are worth mentioning here. They are:
1. College Board now creates most of the SAT questions in-house, and does most of the related research themselves. ETS merely handles some administrative duties.
2. Both ETS and College Board have become even wealthier than they were in the 1980s. I doubt even Owens could have predicted the 2.1 billion (ETS) and 1.6 billion (College Board) of assets under their control.
3. The SAT was revised in 2016. There are fewer obscure vocabulary words on the current test. That's something. The new version experiences some security problems. That's something else.
4. The SAT subject tests were eliminated in 2021. As was the SAT essay question.
Note: A second edition of this book was published in the 1990s. I haven't read it.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
None of the Above.
Sign In »