TikTok
This tiktok triggered a memory for me.
When I was taking an SSAT practice test in 9th grade I got a question wrong because I didn’t know that Bill was short for William. It makes no logical sense. It would never be taught in school. The only way to know it is to just pick up on it naturally in your day to day life.
That was the moment I realized that standardized tests are culturally biased.
It had never occurred to me before, because I was a part of the culturally dominant group that wrote the tests. But when I got that question wrong, I thought, “if I didn’t know the answer - even being surrounded by people named Bill or William - imagine how much harder it must be for kids living in places where that isn’t a common name.”
And once I noticed that, I started noticing lots of little cultural “common sense” traps scattered throughout the test.
When I scored in the 99th percentile on the SSAT, people told me that I was so smart and that I deserved it. But I knew there was more to it than that. And I hoped that the admissions officers did too.