Standardized Tests Have Racist Roots
Standardized tests have a long history of being used to support racist ideologies. They were first brought to the United States to justify the superiority of White Northern Europeans. The American IQ test and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) were both developed to build a set of questions that White Americans would do well on. Although there is no evidence of any difference in intelligence between races, racist academic scholars continue to use test scores in an attempt to prove the superiority of White Americans. During No Child Left Behind, they were also used as a basis for firing thousands of Black and Hispanic teachers. Research has shown that state achievement tests are strongly biased in favor of more affluent students from the dominant culture.
The IQ Test and the SAT Were Developed to Justify Racism
The IQ test was brought to the United States by people who believed in eugenics - the belief that some races are superior to others. Both the American IQ test and the SAT were created by eugenicists such as Henry Goddard and Lewis Terman, who wanted to use the test to separate “fit” people from “unfit” people. Eugenicists believe that “unfit” people should be sterilized. The Eugenics movement in the United States, which was closely aligned with the eugenics movement in Hitler’s Germany, was very popular, with prominent supporters including Theodore Roosevelt, Alexander Graham Bell, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Margret Sanger, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Herbert Hoover, Linus Pauling, and Helen Keller.
Carrie Buck was born in 1906 in Charlottesville, Virginia. When her father abandoned the family, they became destitute, and Carrie was placed in foster care with John and Alice Dobbs. Carrie attended school through 6th grade, where she was an average student. The Dobbs then pulled her from school to act as a servant at home and rented out to neighbors.
When Carrie was 17, she was raped by the Dobb’s nephew and became pregnant. Fearing the scandal and worried their nephew would go to prison, the Dobbs reported to authorities that Carrie was “feeble-minded” and they could not care for her. She was sent to the Colony for Epileptics and Feeble-Minded. Her baby, Vivian, was taken away from her and died in foster care at the age of nine.
The state of Virginia wanted to sterilize Carrie for being “feeble-minded,” and eugenics advocates saw her case as the perfect one to take to the Supreme Court. Thus, in addition to being raped, removed from her home, and placed in a home for the feeble-minded, Carrie was publicly humiliated. The supreme court ruled against her, and Carrie was sterilized against her will. Carrie died in 1973 and was buried near her daughter, Vivian.
The Story of Carrie Buck
The Racist Firing of Teachers
During No Child Left Behind thousands of teachers in low-SES and minority schools were fired for no other reason than the students they taught had low test scores. There is no evidence that students’ test scores reflect a teacher’s teaching abilities. Low-SES students score lower on test scores in every country in the world, but other countries don’t fire the teachers who teach low-SES children - they celebrate them.
Michelle Rhee became famous as the head of Washington DC schools for promising to sweep away “bad teachers and principals.” She closed schools and unfairly fired countless teachers and principals for the crime of teaching at low-SES schools. She ended up being fired after a major cheating scandal.
Born Equal
There is no evidence that differences in race have any effect on a child’s intelligence. But there is plenty of evidence that achievement test scores are strongly biased in favor of more affluent students from the dominant culture. These tests are used to support racist ideologies and cause harm to students of color. All reasonable people should oppose these tests.