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Every year, high school students around the country stress out over taking their SATs. The sense of panic starts up mildly, as a nagging voice in the back of your mind that tells you to get ready, but is quickly brushed away by the thought of homework due tomorrow. As time goes on, the nagging gets louder, until you blow off all other assignments as you realize that a string of three to four digits could be the entire basis for your entrance to the university of your choice, or to a cheap junior college in Nebraska. Finally, you start to study like crazy, taking practice exams, private courses, buying books offering better vocabulary and tips on "cracking the SAT." And all these things cost money. Courses, tutors, and books are not free. But then again, neither are most things. Like the test itself. Which is what I'm here to talk about tonight. The simple act of taking the SAT costs a good chunk of cash, even if you avoid late registration fees and don't spend any extra to send your scores to extra colleges. On top of that are SAT II: Subject Tests, required by most colleges. However, the cost to take the test is not incredibly exorbitant and, if the costs to design and score the tests are taken into account, probably not too high. However, all this money goes to one place: Educational Testing Service, or ETS. ETS is the company that produces, prints, scores, and coordinates the taking of the SAT every year. SAT is a registered trademark of the College Board, which means that if you get the smart idea to issue it yourself outside of ETS, they can sue you. ETS has a monopoly on a test that is required for entrance to most universities. They have no competitors and have total control over their product. What I am calling for is for government intervention. Rather than allow a group of capitalists to get rich off a guaranteed market, the government should nationalize the SAT and issue the test through the Department of Education. The test should also be administered using taxpayer dollars diverted from the bloated defense budget. This would keep the public from having to pay extra for a test that is basically mandatory for a higher education. The right to education is not held by all in this country. Wealth levels and studying environments both affect performance at school, as the wealthy can concentrate on studying rather than finding food for tomorrow, and those who live in the projects will have a harder time analyzing Walden than someone in the suburbs. But rich and poor must take this test, which applies to all people entering college. This seems like a good reason to get rid of ETS, a monopolistic company that is not running the SAT any better than the government could be doing at lower prices to the people. We don't want to give our money to a big company so our kids can go to college. We want to give it to our kids so they can eat while they are there.
-Bobin Hood
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