The SAT Controversy :: essays papers

The SAT Controversy 1) According to the video and the article, who and how was the SAT developed and for what purpose? The SAT, or as it was called in the beginning, the Scholastic Aptitude Test, had its debut in the late 1930’s. In 1933, a gentleman by the name of James Bryant Conant became the president of Harvard University. At the time he became president, only the elite in the area were admitted into Harvard. This distinct social group was all male, all white, all Protestant, most Episcopalian. They basically were descendents of the Puritans who had come from Europe. These were decent people but they had formed a very closed group, almost a club, and controlled everything. James Conant was not particularly fond of this group and he wanted to unlock the hold they had not only on Harvard but on all of America. He had a vision, which actually originated with Thomas Jefferson, that there were people across America who were very intelligent, very talented, and very successful and you needed to find them, educate them and then let them run the country. His goal was a classless society. However, he needed a way to identify these people so he could bring them to Harvard to get that education. As a step in that direction, Conant instituted a new scholarship program for boys who were academically gifted and who did not come from the elite Eastern boarding schools where Harvard had always received its students. However, Conan needed a way to evaluate these students. He gave that task to his assistant dean, Henry Chauncey. Henry Chauncey was a very ambitious individual who loved mental testing. Chauncey met a man, named Carl Brigham who had been part of the army’s IQ testing team during World War I. Eventually, Carl Brigham adapted the army’s IQ test for use in college admissions and Chauncey reported back to Conant about the new SAT test. Conant wanted assurance, however, that this test was a test of pure intelligence and not of the quality of the education a student had received. It was important to him that boys of low or modest means and schooling not be penalized. Chauncey reassured Conant and the SAT was adopted to evaluate the applicants for the scholarship to Harvard. Later it was accepted as the entrance exam into Harvard for all students and eventually all Ivy League schools.