Nerdious and Sundry

     “I was born with a lot of birth defects and had to have a lot of reconstructive surgeries. There were complications, so I was constantly going back and forth to Boston Children’s Hospital. That was a tough time. There was a lot of sacrifice involved, and it brought my family closer together. A lot of people in the community also helped out. I actually feel lucky—I could have had different parents. My parents were willing to make trips to Boston several times a week for my treatments. Of course, money was tight, and I understood that, but my family stood by me and the community was there to help us. That’s actually how my family got involved with community service. It’s our way of giving back.”

Is it unfair to some students that the redesigned SAT, being rolled out next month, will include longer and harder reading passages and wordier math problems than before? Anemona Hartocollis’s article on the topic drew more than 900 responses from readers.

Some stressed that college admissions tests, by their very nature, should winnow out weaker readers.

“Why would you want to accept students who can’t read and write at a college level regardless of their background?” asked Ed H. of Irvine, Calif. “Instead of complaining about the idea that it is unfair to certain students, why not make sure those students are better prepared? If the poor can’t read as well as the rich, then that’s the problem that needs to be addressed.” His comment was the most recommended by other readers.

Some readers zeroed in on a sentence in the article that noted educators “fear that the revised test will penalize students who have not been exposed to a lot of reading, or who speak a different language at home — like immigrants and the poor.”

Ed Bloom, from Columbia, S.C., wrote: “I’m a reading specialist. I went nuts. Let’s not penalize people who haven’t been exposed to a lot of driving by flunking them on the driving test. Let’s not penalize the pilot of our jet liner by keeping him out of the cockpit just because he hasn’t been exposed to a lot of flying. The correct way of thinking about all of the above is not to think of it as penalizing but, instead, a need to get that person the experience. … There are lots of ways to get children ‘exposed’ to reading.”

Adam from New York wrote: “You could call it ‘penalizing students who have not been exposed to a lot of reading.’ Or you could call it ‘evaluating students’ reading skills.’”

From The Grapevine:

sorry it’s so long, but i saw a post on my dash about someone who said they would unfollow anyone who posted screamers, and i felt like compiling this into a list!!