Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!pacbell.com!att!ucbvax!bloom-beacon!ora!ambar
From: schoi@teri.bio.uci.edu (SamLord Byron Choi)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: SAT scores - sexist?
Message-ID: <9104091559.aa26744@orion.oac.uci.edu>
Date: 10 Apr 91 19:35:21 GMT
Sender: ambar@ora.com (Jean Marie Diaz)
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Lines: 35
Approved: ambar@ora.com

al885@cleveland.freenet.edu (Gerard Pinzone) writes:

>Does anyone know of any good examples of why the SAT exams are biased
>toward a male point of view? I have heard many feminists and cases about
>it, but I have yet to see any examples. Most arguments point out that
>since women do better in High School and collage, this proves that the
>higher scores of male students on the SAT's make them sexist.

Let's not make too much of this topic.  That males score better on
SATs while females have better GPAs is caught up with so many issues
that I don't think any of us are really in a position to say too much
on the brilliant side about it and would just end up bickering without
any facts.

People say that some questions are gender biased (e.g. a reading
comprehension question that is on the subject of football).  This is
probably true in some cases, but I'm sure the people at Princeton are
becoming more aware of this.  I would say that far more than gender
biased, they are culturally and intellectually biased.

The standard argument goes, that because female students receive
better grades than males, yet receive lower test scores, the tests are
OBVIOUSLY gender biased.  Well, I've read an argument by a student
saying that this is utterly false.  His argument was that because
males receive better test scores, yet females receive better grades,
grades are OBVIOUSLY gender biased particularly at lower levels of
education where the teacher can't help but give Kute Suzie a better
grade than Messy Joey.

The difference between the scores of males and females is just an
average.  And that difference is very small though consistent.  It
says absolutely nothing whatsoever about individual scores or
abilities.

Sam Choi