SAT Prep For Those Who Are Less Affluent

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

<p>To go along with the other article…</p>

<p>After the Last Lap, It’s Time for SAT Prep
By JOSEPH BERGER
Published: January 24, 2007</p>

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[quote]
On a cold, drizzly evening, the copper-colored track inside the Armory Track and Field Center in Upper Manhattan was as inviting as a crackling fireplace. Hundreds of sprinters and middle-distance runners from public and private high schools were taking wintertime practice, cantering around the indoor track with the exuberance of youngsters taking still-sprouting bodies to once unimaginable peaks.</p>

<p>Among them were Malia McPherson, Dieubi Joinvil and Altagracia Vasquez. But unlike most of the other runners, these three knew that once they changed into street clothes, they would be sitting still for another kind of practice. Two flights down in a high-ceilinged room, they and 35 others would get coaching on the SAT they plan to take on Saturday.</p>

<p>In seven sessions over 10 hours, they have learned not only exotic words like “nonchalant” and “abjure,” but also canny strategies like eliminating patently wrong choices so guesses will be more focused, thus reducing penalties for wrong answers…</p>

<p>The course, paid for with a $100,000 federal grant, is intended to help poor and immigrant runners in the Armory’s program decipher the often complex college admissions process. Malia, Dieubi, Altagracia and the other 35 students have already taken three sessions in which they learned how to choose a college, charm a reader on an essay, scout out financial aid and conduct oneself during an interview…</p>

<p>For such students, the playing field is being leveled — just a few notches, but in significant ways. Suburban or upscale city youngsters are more likely to afford SAT prep courses that cost $1,000 and up, have parents who have been through the admissions rigmarole, and attend high schools where counselors focus on fewer students. -----------------------------------</p>

<p>Again, interesting because there has been a recent surge in CCer’s who do not like to consider economic, social, political, and other forces that create inequity or perpetuate it in pre-college education–and advocate it’s non-use when it comes to private college admissions practices.</p>

<p>What do you think?</p>

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<p>These grants are dumb and a waste of 100k.</p>

<p>All one needs to do is go to a local library and find all the prep books you can find. It costs nothing and teaches you 90% of the things you learn in prep-course.</p>

<p>Spend the 100k on those underfunded schools. Sheesh.</p>

3

<p>^. Agree. One girl–>“My parents are too poor to get me review books.” Me-what about the library? I get my books out from there for like two months if I renew them
Her-I don’t use the library-it’s only for total losers</p>

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<p>The New York City public library system is one of the largest and best on the planet. Surely they must have SAT prep books in abundance.</p>

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<p>Kman, I was just about to say the SAME thing! It’s not so much the money. It’s about knowing about your opportunities. I’ve been to a highly rated school and now go to a poorly rated one, and the thing I notice most about poor schools is NOT the lack of money as much as the lack of information.</p>

<p>If kids knew about things like fee waivers, or bothered to ask teachers for help (which many would be all too happy to give), they would do much better.</p>

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<p>I don’t think we need SAT prep for the less affluent…what they need is a dictionary, the Blue Book, and a quiet place to use both. End. Of.</p>

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<p>Yes, the lack of information is what is at issue, so socioeconomic conditions do come into play.</p>

<p>By the way, in any library system, sometime the book is checked out, whereas if you have the time and money, you can order it from the comfort of your own home or go to a bookstore. For some low-income kids that have to work to help with family expenses, traveling to and from the library to check on the book or waiting for it to be returned (some people forget to return things as well), takes up more time than would being able to put it on a credit card or buy it outright, thus favoring those with some extra money.</p>

<p>Not the end of inequity, just perpetuation of inequity.</p>

8

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<p>Blahhhhh. That is really stretching it.</p>