I couldn’t help but notice the irony in the recent article about the 14 Illinois high school students who attained perfect scores on the ACT exam (“14 students slam-dunk ACT in Illinois,” Page 1, June 23.) One of the “perfect” students, who first took the test as an 8th grader, said, “The practice made me think I’d do pretty good later.” Perhaps the ACT is not testing for proper English grammar.
The real issue, of course, is not how well this student follows language rules. Testing seems to validate all the advantages of wealth and privilege, but what does it really show us? Is our goal producing a generation of accomplished test-takers, or students who can think and function in the real world? Rather than a laudable achievement, the success of these 14 students underscores the ongoing disparities in our system of public education. It also reveals our infatuation with quantifying success and potential, no matter how shallow or one-dimensional the format.
