I teach on the college level in Georgia, a state that ranks 50th on incoming SAT scores. This doesn’t surprise me as the South has never been known for its exemplary primary education: the bottom five states are all southern (as is D.C., which is considered southern by some); I was more surprised that Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama & Kentucky all performed in the top half).
What did surprise me was that all of the top ten states (in descending order: ND, IA, IL, WS, SD, MN, MO, KS, NE & MI) were all in the midwest.
I cannot imagine that midwestern students are just more intelligent than southeastern and Texan students, and the per capita education budgets are not generally that much more. Some may argue that religious intervention in curriculum (most in particularly in the issue of creationism and sex education) may factor, but Alabama and Mississippi have if anything more of that in GA & the Carolinas and finished substantially higher, while bigots may argue the increasing multiculturalism of the south plays a role but that’s at least as high in Illinois & Michigan.
So in your opinion, what’s happening in the Midwest that is so exemplary? Are SATs a valid measure of educational attainment?
As a born and bred Midwesterner, who now lives in the south, I’m going to take a shot at it. Keep in mind, I have no actual data to back it up, so it’s all based on personal observations.
I would guess that the better schools in the South stack up just fine with the better schools in the Midwest. The difference that I’ve noticed is between what are considered “bad” schools. The ones I saw in the Midwest seemed fairly normal, and were only “bad” when compared to the ones in richer neighborhoods, where laptop labs are the norm. Thus even those in schools without all the extras still were able to receive a good education.
In the south, while there is a ton of money to be had, there also seems to be a LOT more true poverty than I saw in the Midwest. From reading newspaper accounts, there seems to be a strong correlation between a student being from a poor family, and low SAT scores. It’s probably a combination of poor funding for the schools, a lack of hope of escaping the cycle of poverty, and discipline issues, which disrupt the learning process.
I personally think that SATs are bunk. I mean, I scored high on it, therefore it has little value O_o
Born and bred in currently tormentuously hot California, and attending school in chasm of education that is Los Angeles, I can say that there is probably a good deal to the “giving a damn about SAT scores” part of the equation. Those who give a damn generally score much better than those who don’t, for whatever reason (bad school, neglected goal setting, poor home environment, lack of stimulus, whatever, I only lived in Virginia for a year and found it to be much the same as the area north of Sacramento, a wasteland, only less pretty).
I don’t hold much stock in the whole “biased towards whites” theory, but I’m sure someone will bring it up.
Really, I think you also have to notice the population density. Operating on general assumptions, I don’t think North Dakota has the highest amount of students in classrooms, and there may indeed be more median money per kid spent.
From my personal experience in Los Angeles, the kids in the suburbs always scored much better than the kids in the inner city. You can call that the results of racism or school funding or policy or social or economic structure or whatever the hell you want, but it is generally the case.
Maybe it is just the abysmally wet heat that saps the educational willpower from everyone in the South?
I mean, it may be 104* here, but it isn’t 99% humidity.
Strictly IMO - In the end it’s mostly about famlies cultural and socio-economic orientations. For all it’s advancement the majority of the south is still less urbanized and noticably poorer socio-economically than the rest of the nation. People mired in long term poverty or without supportive institutions tend not to produce scholastically oriented environments for their children. It’s a self defeating/self reinforcing cycle in many ways.
In addition the midwest is has a considerable german-polish-scandinavan-eastern european etc. component in it’s cultural compass. All these backgrounds highly value educational achievement, whereas the south has large lower middle class and lower class white and black populations who do not (overall) culturally educational achievement quite as much.
Pure speculation here (and this may have changed since I was in school, which is increasingly far back), but it might not the same cross-section of students.
Then, the ACT was the slightly preferred test for the midwestern schools, so the average-ish to below average-ish students in the midwest who wanted to go to their state schools weren’t taking the SAT, and the average was skewed slightly higher than if they were; at the coast schools, students of all abilities were taking the SATs.
Of course, this may have changed since then, and the midwest is really doing something great.
As I understand it, schools today are not just looking at SAT scores, which is good because the SAT prep industry has been growing by leaps and bounds. Of course, students that can afford special prep classes and tutors tend to from the upper middle to upper class levels putting those from the lower economic groups at a disadvantage.
In the Spring of 2005, a new SAT test will include the following changes:
There are also many reports of significant grade boosting in today’s educational environment. Parents will often go to school to fight for their kids who received a poor grade and even put pressure on the administration out of fear of little Johnny/Jane having their GPA average ruined and therefore their supposed chance at getting into a “good college”. So grades might not be a good metric for judging learning either.
Here’s an interesting (and sad) story that ran in the local paper the other day:
I’ve heard that in many states that do very well on the SAT’s such as Iowa that basically if a student is not going to go to college he does not take it, and that in many of the other states everyone and their mother takes it, even the kids who never plan on going to college.
This is just what a teacher told me once I don’t know if it is true.
I would argue that it’s cultural–education isn’t valued here.
Compared to Northern or Midwestern communities, there are very few bookstores here.
Reading a book in public is considered “odd”.
The old Jacksonian idea that “my opinion is as good as your just because, & anything else is elitist–don’t confuse me with the facts” is alive & well here.
I would attribute at least part of Alabama’s high ranking relative to other southern states to the fact that the ACT is more popular here. I went to high school there and, while everyone at my prep school took both the ACT and SAT, many people at the public school my mom taught at only take the ACT. Unless you have some interest in attending an out of state college, there’s no real need to take the SAT. Therefore, Alabama high school students taking the SAT are generally among the better students in the state.
I agree 100%. As a transplanted Yankee, it strikes me as crazy how true this can be down here. Especially as the son of immigrants, I was taught that education was the great leveler in American society- but other parents think that I am odd because I try to pass the same thing on to my children.
Many other parents around here think that we aren’t doing a good job because, even though our kids are on honor roll, and generally perform several grade levels higher, we do not push them to either attend church or do some sort of sport.
So, my thoughts (not necessarily in order of importance):
domination of sports culture
domination of fundamentalism (as opposed to main-line ‘modern’ religion)
I can walk the hallways and see almost at a glance who will be succeeding and who will end up dropping out. Why? Because it all starts at home. You are either the kind of parent who is capable and willing to assist in your childs education or you are not.
My former career was in television news. I have done many stories on education. One fact that nobody wants to analyze too closely is that the more affluent the school district is, the better the test scores and the lower the discipline problems.
I can hear you asking now…“Why is this, Evil One? Enlighten us!” Gladly.
If you can pay for a 150,000 dollar house, you are much more likely to be the kind of parent that values education. It’s likely you have one yourself.
If you dropped out of school in the 10th grade, you cannot help junior with his Physics homework. He knows you can’t. His teenage brain, which is focused inward and on the short term, also sees that you don’t need an education to get along. You are managing. So why bother? It’s hard and it’s boring.
It doesn’t matter what color you are. It matters what example you set.
Gotta agree with Evil One, sorta. I teach high school, and the single biggest determinant of student success is parent involvement. Doesn’t matter if the family doesn’t have a pot to piss in…if the parents value education, then the kids show that value. If the parents don’t care, then the kids probably won’t, either. Ethnic background and money don’t matter much. I’ve seen too many rich white kids who don’t give a damn, and too many poor minority kids who are stellar students. That said, there are cultures that value education more than others.
