SAT Scores and Income Inequality by Jennifer M. Spychala

Income inequality is the extent to which income is unevenly distributed among a specific population (Gardner). Income inequality has become a large gap between the rich and everyone else in the population, which in most of the cases the rest of society is considered the poor. This gap has become greater and greater in recent years and is continually growing each year. This level of income inequality, research shows, endangers our society, on a variety of fronts that will be explained in greater detail later in my essay. One question I have is why does this gap continue to grow and why has nothing been done to stop this continuing growth? Minimum wage is not enough to support a family, in fact, it can barely support one individual.  What if someone does not have the college experience to get a higher paying job? Are they just out of luck and do they need to just have hope that they can get by on minimum wage? The wages between CEO’s and the employees of the company have an extreme difference. How does a CEO live with themselves knowing that their employees are making a ridiculous amount less of money than they are?  Most of these employees are barely getting by. Hourly wages have not rose enough over the past years, in fact, they have hardly rose at all. How does someone support their family during this time of extreme income inequality? Is it even possible?

 In my opinion, income inequality is the deciding factor on many things in today’s society.  It can be a deciding factor in where someone lives. The neighborhood in which one lives decides which school their children will go to. If one lives in a bad neighborhood, due to the fact that they cannot afford anything else, their future adolescents will suffer. The schools in poor neighborhoods are almost always underfunded. These schools also have many more problems within the school than a school in a rich neighborhood. There is often problems with bullying and violence. The violence often increases when students get to higher levels of education such as high school. What child is going to want to go to school if they are scared of the place they walk into every morning? These schools also have a high percentage of dropout rates. Many students will need to drop out to help support their families. Some students may become involved in gang and drug activity. Due to lack of funding, the students may be learning the bare minimum of the curriculum and students may also be struggling in the classroom with grades. A student has to not only balance their grades, but in this case, they may have to worry about their safety in the classroom and possibly what will happen that night when they get home. How is a student going to be prepared for the real world if they are not learning the basic skills in their classrooms? Students who are not learning the proper skills will not be able to excel in college or beyond in the real world. Speaking of excelling in college…

In order to get into college, most if not all schools require an ACT/SAT score to be sent to the college upon their admission into the university. These test are not only timed, but incredibly challenging. A student may feel an incredible amount of anxiety due to the fact that these scores determine their future to some extent. The ACT/SAT scores are one of the main deciding factors on a student’s admission into the university. Depending on where the student aspires to go to college depends on how high they need to score on ACT or SAT. Most colleges accept applicants that have scored about a 22-24 composite on their ACT and have scored about 1500-1700 for their composite on the SAT. In order to get into some of the top universities, an applicant will need an almost perfect score on your ACT or SAT to be accepted. How does a student who does not test well get into a university to better themselves for the future to be able to get a job that pays more than minimum wage? Students who suffer income inequality in their households have been shown to score much lower on these exams than those of students who come from wealthy households who tend to score very high. My question is, how does that work? How is this income equality playing such a big role in some people’s lives fair? I know what you are thinking, it is not! Let’s investigate this further.

The SAT score originally stood for Scholastic Aptitude Test, but when talking about income, it is also considered a Student Affluence Test. The tests examines students on three critical subjects: reading, writing, and math.  In 2014, on average students of low income families were outscored on EVERY level of the SAT test. Students of a family that makes anywhere from $0-$20K scored on average 1324 for a composite. Students of a family that makes anywhere from $200K and up scored on average 1722 for a composite which is 78 points away from a perfect score. Students from the wealthiest families outscored students of poorer families just shy of 400 points. This test is a true sign of income inequality. Not only are the wealthier students more equipped to pay for college, their almost perfect scores also allow for them to get into more of the top universities (Zumbrun).

            Getting back to the topic of income inequality, students that experience income inequality do not get a fair chance at many things in life. Not only do these students usually go to schools in poorer communities with less resources, but their chances of being able to get out of this income inequality is slim to none. A student cannot get into a good college if they do not do well on the ACT/SAT which will not allow them to get a high paying job. Many students may not be allowed to have the proper preparation for these important exams. Their schools may not be able to afford to have ACT/SAT prep classes. Outside of school, may not be able to prepare for the ACT/SAT because they may have to work to support their low income family after school. They also may not be able to afford a private tutor like those of the higher income families. Most private tutors can cost anywhere from $500-$700. If a student wants to take an ACT/SAT prep course, that can cost anywhere from $300-$700. Students that are suffering from income inequality cannot afford these classes and private tutoring, but as wealthy student would be able to afford it. My question is how does the gap of income inequality become bridged? Will this gap ever be bridged?

            After reading my paper, I hope that you feel highly informed of the true brutality of income inequality. SAT scores are just one of the things that are greatly impacted by income inequality. I have a few questions for you as the reader now to respond to in this post. What do you think the first step to bridge income inequality? What do you think you can do as a college student to stand up for those who are suffering due to income inequality? What do you see as the biggest challenge for students who are struggling with income inequality?

References

Abraham, D. & Gardener, M. (2013). Income Inequality. Inequality.com. Retrieved from http://inequality.org/income-inequality/

Goldfarb, Z. A. (2014). These Four Charts Show How the SAT Favors Rich, Educated Families. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/03/05/these-four-charts-show-how-the-sat-favors-the-rich-educated-families/

Wike, R. (2014). With 41% of Global Wealth in the Hands of Less Than 1%, Elites and Citizens Agree Inequality is a Top Priority. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/11/08/with-41-of-global-wealth-in-the-hands-of-less-than-1-elites-and-citizens-agree-inequality-is-a-top-priority/

Zumbrun, J. (2014). SAT Scores and Income Inequality: How Wealthier Kids Rank Higher. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/10/07/sat-scores-and-income-inequality-how-wealthier-kids-rank-higher/