posted
When the push went through to end Affirmative Action fifteen years ago, I used to joke that white people would rig the SAT once Asian immigrants started kicking their ass on the test.
Back in the 80s when they fixed vocabulary section to count for more, to balance out poor math scores, only a few people made a fuss, but now there is a twenty five minute writing section checking for grammar and an idioms section. Idioms?
It must be nice to decide what counts for merit. I don't even know how one proposes an idioms section with a straight face.
So now I teach idioms to kids, while trying to convince them that the world isn't organized for the benefit others.
quote:Idioms and Prepositional Idioms Idioms are inherited quirks of language that we absorb without question but which cause nonnative speakers endless trouble. For example, here’s an idiom we’ve all used: It wasn’t me. Look at this grammatically. A pronoun that refers only to humans, me, is replacing a pronoun that refers only to inanimate objects, it. However, every native English-speaker knows what this phrase means, and has used it quite effectively. These types of idioms are so dangerously close to clichés that you should avoid them at all costs. However, the proper use of another type of idiom will definitely impress your readers. The particular meaning of certain words requires the use of a particular preposition:
* Incorrect Helga prefers poetry over novels. * Correct Helga prefers poetry to novels. * Incorrect Barack doesn’t have a favorable opinion toward Freud’s theories. * Correct Barack doesn’t have a favorable opinion of Freud’s theories.
Sometimes, a word can be combined legitimately with more than one preposition, but the meaning will then shift. Knowing which preposition triggers which meaning is crucial to good usage. My remark was meant as a joke. You, my friend, are meant for greatness. Meant as shows intent; meant for indicates a destination. A complete and relatively short list of such prepositional idioms can also be found in SparkNotes Ultimate Style (www.sparknotes.com/ultimatestyle).
quote:I don't even know how one proposes an idioms section with a straight face.
quote:# A speech form or an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elements, as in keep tabs on. # The specific grammatical, syntactic, and structural character of a given language.
posted
So you are suggesting that everyone oughtta learn Spanglish, Ebonics, Chinglish, Japanglish, etc, eh Dag? Let's get a bit real, the only slanguage that's gonna be on that test is the stuff that's penetrated the blueblood (aka white trash) market.
Reminds me of when "experiences with different cultures" were introduced as a plus-factor in college admissions. Amazing how European vacations counted, but living elsewhere (including inner city neighborhoods shunned by whites) didn't.
quote:Let's get a bit real, the only slanguage that's gonna be on that test is the stuff that's penetrated the blueblood (aka white trash) market.
It's worse than that. The college admissions council can't say that rich white people don't work as hard studying for the test as hungry asian immigrants, so instead, they rigged the test to chip, biff, and buffy's slang. This isn't for white trash, it's for Jenna Bush. It's for dudes. This helps the harvard educated father so that his lazy 16 year-old son won't get beat by the chinese couple who moved in next door. And all that's fine, I wasn't in love with the old SAT, just don't call it a test that determines merit. Legacy admits weren't enough, white people needed to put in a legacy section on the test. I'm not convinced either test tests more than ones willingness to jump through the Man's hoops, the Jim Crow excuses are what's ridiculous.
quote:Because it's necessary to understand idioms to be able to communicate effectively.
Whose idioms? Chip, Biff, and Buffy's idioms? Because it's an important priority that everyone is able to understand bougie white patois?
Next, there is going to a cheese section, because knowing the difference between Munster and Mozzarella is essential to being able to function in our society well. It's just an unfortunate coincidence that so many Asians are lactose intolerant.
posted
You and I use "white trash" differently, Irami. I use the term exclusively in reference to the inbred ilk of the Dubya-class, and to those who wish to join that parasitic class through mimicry, sycophancy, and dishonesty.
quote:Well, the examples I listed are a good place to start. Are those Chip, Biff, and Buffy's?
Yes.
quote:It's an important priority that people going to college be able to write in a fairly standard form of American English.
I'm not sure that specific information, like which preposition the word "opinion" takes, is relevant. Isn't that what the Achievement Tests are for? There was a time that the SAT was supposed to test ones ability to learn and the achievement tests test what data one has already learned. Now, apparently, SAT tests WASP jargon. What's next, the ability to iron a shirt or tie a tie? My golf swing?
In my ear, the sayings go, "favorable opinion of" or "fitly disposed toward" but I do not believe that the accidental memorization, or inculcation, of either of those phrases are indicate someone's collegiate merit.
The additional idiom section was a buck shot. Black people were only collateral damage, this section was aimed at asian immigrants.
What makes this english "fairly standard" is that white people are more likely to be comfortable with prepositional nuance. Of all of the qualities we look from our future generation, is knowing whether "on the contrary" and "to the contrary" is correct (this is one I saw today) an issue of serious import to our children.
posted
The problem with arguments of the form "Of all of the qualities we look from our future generation, is X an issue of serious import to our children" is that I can list a couple thousand things that are more important than anything on the SAT.
These types of things WILL matter in college. It will matter as to how a person's ideas are received and interpreted.
quote:The problem with arguments of the form "Of all of the qualities we look from our future generation, is X an issue of serious import to our children" is that I can list a couple thousand things that are more important than anything on the SAT.
That's something we can agree on. The argument for the SAT is that it selects for those students who are fitly disposed for success in college. It puts round pegs in round holes. The problem is, if these are the qualities that lead to success in college, what are we supposed to be teaching college students?
Posts: 5600 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
"Abilities," like it's some sort of gene. I'd rather offer a college class on prepositions and accept kids who show a tendency toward dignity.
Posts: 5600 | Registered: Jul 2001
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As it stands, we have two hammers, math and the english language, and we are pretending that students are nails.
It's easy to correct math and english. Haven't you noticed on the guess the author game, any idiot can spot a misplaced comma. Just because those two faculties give themselves to easy adjudication, doesn't mean that they are the appropriate metric for anything that matters.
I admit that English language mastery is important, but that's not why it's on the test. It's on the test because it's something that some kids will get wrong and some kids will get right, as determined by a scantron.
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