Racism and Sexism in Standardized Testing

Cross-posted with Gender Across Borders.

As I prepare to take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) in a little less than two weeks, I have begun to think about the politics behind standardized testing. While I understand that colleges and universities need some sort of measure of how to test applicants, the standardized test continues to be sexist and racist. I can only speak from personal experience, but in browsing around the web I have found that other people have written about the problems with standardized testing. Here are some examples of blatant racism and sexism:

Racism : I was told by many test-prep books that I should learn all sailing and opera/music words. Luckily I used to be a classical pianist, so I have no trouble with words such as “overture” or “aria.” But I wasn’t so familiar with sailing terms, such as “sextant” ( which is a navigational tool used by sailors measuring longitude and latitude).

Sailing is usually associated with someone who comes from a wealthy background, and/or has access to a sailboat. Many underprivileged minority kids have never sailed a boat before; how are they ever expected to know this?

Sexism: While it is known that generally girls excel at standardized tests in reading and boys excel at standardized tests in math and science (see here ), I came across an important part of the whole standardized testing culture: consistently referring to an author or writer as a “he” in test prep literature. So what, are there no women writers out there? 

A week ago, Elizabeth addressed sexism in the literary world in her article Publishers Weekly’s Top 10 Books by Men . As a result of this astonishment, I personally contacted the test prep company (name will remain anonymous) and wrote this:

I have absolutely nothing to complain about the course or the materials that [test prep company name redacted] has provided me—in fact, I find everything helpful!
However, I have a problem with something: I am going over the critical reading workshop before my class, learning about the author’s “scope,” “topic,” etc. and find it sexist that [test prep company name redacted] has chosen to only use “he” in referring to “the author.” There are many great women authors who write well (i.e., in [test prep company name redacted]’s terms, have an argument, scope, topic) and you might want to consider changing some of the he’s to she’s. For information on great women authors, in case you were wondering, go to http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng384/links.htm. I find it personally offensive because I am a woman writer myself, and to not see my gender represented on practice quizzes for a standardized test makes me that you, as a company, think that women are not capable of writing.