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CNN Live Today

SAT May Get Overhaul; Interview with Josh Fisher

Aired June 27, 2002 - 12:17   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Each year, more than a million high school students either, A, wake up with butterflies in their stomach; B, grab a No. 2 pencil; C, take the SAT test; or D, all of the above. We all know the answer to that one. But did you know that this crucial right of passage might be changing?

CNN's Maria Hinojosa has the details -- hi there, Maria.

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well, in about an hour, the College Board is scheduled to vote on the largest sweeping changes in the 76-year-old SAT. And we know that there are a lot of high school students out there who want to know exactly what those changes are, so let's go right to them.

The biggest change that might be approved, if this vote goes down in about an hour, will be the addition of a writing test. It will be a 20 to 30-minute writing test that they will take inside when they are taking the SATs, and this writing test will now be available to college admissions officers to look at. They will be dropping analogies from the verbal section, and removing qualitative comparisons in math. They are going to be adding more critical reading, and adding more difficult mathematics, such as Algebra III.

Now, of course, there are some students that when they think about the SATs, they in and of themselves already are worried. Some students are saying that they appreciate these changes, because it will make the test reflect more of what they are learning in school as opposed to their aptitude.

But there are some students who are not pleased with these changes at all. Josh Fisher is with an organization called nomoretests.com. What is the problem that you have with the SATs, Josh?

JOSH FISHER, NOMORETESTS.COM: Well, I think the SATs are just fundamentally biased. They are classist, racist and gender-biased.

HINOJOSA: And so the SAT people might say, well, we believe that the SATs are a way to actually -- it's a way in which all students can be tested, and it makes it better, as opposed to just depending on where someone is from. And you believe that the SATs should just disappear then?

FISHER: Yes. I don't think that there can be such a thing as a level playing field, because all people are different, all people have a different value. And I think colleges have a different way than just a number of finding out the value that a student can bring to their school.

HINOJOSA: OK. So you did how on your SATs?

FISHER: I did OK, but I mean, I prefer not to tell anybody, because I don't want to be judged as a number myself. I think I have more value as a human being than that.

HINOJOSA: OK. Well, that's more or less what we are going to be hearing. In about an hour, Fredricka, is when we are expecting the vote by the College Board -- back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. And we'll get right back to you when that happens -- thanks a lot, Maria.

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