can someone tell me how a test can be racially bias?

Question

Ive heard people complain that SATs are racially bias.I whent to school with black and hispanic students.I was never taken aside and taught things only the white students were allowd to know

Seems some people rather resort to personal attacks than anawer the question.If you cant answer just sit in the corner and figure out who you can hate on the next question

Answer 1

it usually has more to do with culturally/economically biased then actually being racial

it has do with some of the types of questions on the test. like example I remember a question that was either on the SAT or ACT that was related to fencing.

Now to be honest most white people don't know much about fencing but there are even less Black people that know things about fencing.

I also remember some study an old friend of mine talked about that showed that kids are thought to think differently along racial lines. If I remember correct it state that African American kids are thought to think and reevaluate their answers when a White kid is thought to go with his first instinct.

this could led to a Black kid spending way to much time on a question and leave him with not enough time to finish the test.

for example a black kid could spend way to much time on a question that seems easy like what color is a banana? green, yellow, white or brown.

because they spend to much time thinking about the fact that a banana can be all those colors.


and as for you saying

No but a kid in a well founded school would be a bit more likely to be thought more then a kid in a under founded school.

so it's another economical bias, but giving that it is more likely that a crapply founded school is in the inner city (which usaully has more Blacks and Latinos) and the well founded school is more likely found in the suburbs (which would more likely have a highter white student body) I can see where this is confused.

Answer 2

Back when I was around 18 I actually took a cop test and passed it. Then moved to another state and wanted to be a police officer and passed that test too. I don't think the test is racially bias at all as I've passed it twice. I decided not to be a police officer and instead finish getting my degree. But I can honestly say that most of the questions on the test don't have anything to do with white or black culture or anything like that. Most of the questions are logic questions....what would you do in this scenario type thing, then a part of the test tests memory. I personally thought the test was easy. I honestly think it shouldn't be lowered. Its a pretty standard test, and most of the time you need 3 text books that will cover all the information. If you can't pass it after that...honestly you don't deserve to be police officer.

Answer 3

There is a difference in how black and white children grow up in general. The black population tends to have a lower socio-economic level and that produces less changes to be associated with different items. If there are questions on a test that a white child would easily relate too, but a black child has never seen, that could be racially bias.
For instance a question might say "A family reunion has how many people?" With a proper answer being 10. But for the black population family reunions are huge events with many hundreds of people there. The child would answer 200, and get it wrong.
This is a very simplistic view of the problem. And it is much more complex then this. There are strong arguments that it happens, and some equally as strong that it does not.
B

Answer 4

To answer this question without prejudice I looked at a sample of the SAT test. I myself have never taken it so I wanted to see what it was all about. From some of the questions I can see how it may be perceived as bias. I have heard this about the test before but never really payed it much attention. I also can see how it can not be perceived as bias. I think it has alot to do with what you are taught in school. The test does cover things I myself never learned in high school. So on this I'm on the fence. It can go either way.

Answer 5

It's sad, but some people believe that any difference in scores between racial groups automatically means there is a racial bias. But since Asians score higher on average than whites, does that mean the SAT is Asian-biased?

A more legitimate argument for racial bias regards the use of situations and vocabulary that certain ethnic groups would rarely or never encounter. For example, terms related to sailing or polo. On the other hand, no one has ever been able to explain to me how math can be racially biased.

Answer 6

I've heard of stuff like this for years. I don't know if it is truly valid but I do remember an example that was used many years ago saying that a test was biased against the poor. An example question was, "Fill in the blank. Cup and _______". The answer is supposed to be saucer. However it was found that some poor families never used saucers, so the question was found to be biased and unfair to the poor.

Answer 7

In my opinion, this argument is given to as an excuse for the poor performance of Black and Hispanic students on standardized tests. At least some Hispanics have an excuse; if they were not raised in the US, their English skills might not be up to par.

But what about the fact that Asian students often score highest on these tests?

Answer 8

Ok... they are not racially biased in that way. When people say that, they are referring to the fact that minorities (generally speaking) tend to live in poverty... therefore living in poor neighborhoods and ghettos with substandard schools... receiving an education that does not prepare them for standardized tests as well as kids that live in richer neighborhoods where the teachers are paid better, and are less fed up, and where parents care about their children's educations and have time to spend with their kids instilling in them the importance of education. Parents who are living from paycheck to paycheck, and sometimes then not even making it, are usually not as concerned with school, believing that since it got them nowhere, it won't help their kids, either... that attitude rubs off on these kids, and they don't even try to learn what they need to do well on these tests. It's a vicious cycle... Anyway, it's not the content of the test that is biased, but the fact that all students are not equally prepared for it that makes it unfair and gives white kids (and kids in rich neighborhoods) an advantage.... generally speaking, of course.

Answer 9

People try to make that argument when discussing the White/Asian and Black/Hispanic test score gap. When they don't want to blame the students, their parents, etc. they blame the teachers and the schools. Also, it has always amazed me that the same people who make that argument are also the ones against segregation. (After all, the only way to give a test that wasn't biased against any race would be to segregate each school, right?)

Answer 10

It's yet another excuse blacks and certain other minorities use to blame their lack of achievement and intelligence on Whitey.

It makes me laugh too. Why can an immigrant from Korea or Viet Nam or India get 100% on the SAT or ACT and their parents can barely speak english and whose culture is way different than ours.
Yet blacks don't have any of those impediments and can barely read or write.