The S.A.T. and Social Stratification

Abstract

The publishers of the Scholastic Aptitude Test have maintained for many years that the SAT has helped blacks and members of other disadvantaged groups get ahead in American society. But this cheerful view has no basis in fact. SAT scores have never been a threat to the social hegemony of the American white upper middle class; indeed, they have reinforced it. Most minority applicants who are admitted to selective colleges are admitted in spite of their SAT scores, not because of them. American society has indeed become more egalitarian during the 60 years the SAT has been in existence, but the test itself has had nothing to do with bringing about that social transformation. If anything, it has stood in the way.