Standardized Entrance/Aptitude Testing in the Era of Foucault’s Panopticon: The Bilingual Student and the Minority Student/

By: Material type: ArticleArticlePublication details: Sage, 2020Description: Vol.52, issue 6, 2020: ( 847-871 p.)Online resources: In: Education and urban societySummary: Standardized testing is an applauded system of testing due to the uniformity that it offers. The idea is that in standardized testing, because every student is being asked exactly the same question and each question has only one specific answer, standardized examinations are neutral, value free, and exonerated from the subjectivity that an examiner or teacher may inhibit. The reality is far from it. Using a Foucauldian panoptic perspective and focusing on what is known as the aptitude or entrance examination, I argue that standardized examinations are designed in such a way that bilingual and minority students shall not score on par with their monolingual majority counterparts. The questions are designed in such a way that those students who code switch (due to bilingualism) are placed at a disadvantage. Similarly, the culture represented in the examination is White middle class, hence making the examination relatively more difficult for minority students.
Tags from this library: No tags from this library for this title. Log in to add tags.
Star ratings
    Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)
Holdings
Item type Current library Vol info Status
E-Journal E-Journal Library, SPAB Vol. 52 (1-9) 2020 Available
Total holds: 0

Standardized testing is an applauded system of testing due to the uniformity that it offers. The idea is that in standardized testing, because every student is being asked exactly the same question and each question has only one specific answer, standardized examinations are neutral, value free, and exonerated from the subjectivity that an examiner or teacher may inhibit. The reality is far from it. Using a Foucauldian panoptic perspective and focusing on what is known as the aptitude or entrance examination, I argue that standardized examinations are designed in such a way that bilingual and minority students shall not score on par with their monolingual majority counterparts. The questions are designed in such a way that those students who code switch (due to bilingualism) are placed at a disadvantage. Similarly, the culture represented in the examination is White middle class, hence making the examination relatively more difficult for minority students.

There are no comments on this title.

to post a comment.
Share

Library, SPA Bhopal, Neelbad Road, Bhauri, Bhopal By-pass, Bhopal - 462 030 (India)
Ph No.: +91 - 755 - 2526805 | E-mail: library@spabhopal.ac.in

OPAC best viewed in Mozilla Browser in 1366X768 Resolution.
Free counter