1 Feb, 2012
different standards
Students Respond to Claremont McKenna’s Bumping Up SAT Scores
Students at Claremont McKenna College told ABC News today they were “in shock” at recent news that for the past six years the small, prestigious school had bumped up the SAT scores of its incoming freshmen in an effort to boost the school’s ranking in the influential U.S. News and World Report’s listing.
“There’s some negative feelings going around,” said Sam Kahr, a student at the Claremont, Calif., college. “But we are the first people to openly come out and acknowledge that we have done this, and I feel that deserves merit on the part of the administration.”
On Monday, Pamela Gann, Claremont McKenna’s president, released a statement to students and faculty, saying that “a senior administrator” had resigned after admitting to being “solely responsible for falsely reporting SAT statistics since 2005.”
Gann said in her statement that “the reported critical reading and/or math SAT scores were generally inflated by an average of 10-20 points.”
...
Brian Kelly, the editor of U.S. News and World Report, told ABC News today however that he didn’t think the inflated SAT scores would affect the school’s overall score “all that much.” SAT scores account for 7.5 percent of a school’s total score.
“It’s not huge,” Kelly said. “We fold a lot of different kinds of measurements (such as class rank, acceptance rates and student selectivity) together to come up with our ranking.”
Gracie Mahan, a Claremont McKenna student, said the incident was embarrassing.
“Knowing that the scores were changed … it’s a very serious issue,” she said. “I think a lot of kids make their college decision off what the scores look like at a school. It’s unacceptable for these numbers to have been tampered with.”
Article from abc news, & picture from Google images
Colossians 3: 1-4
1 So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides.
2 Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ- that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.
3 Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life - even though invisible to spectators - is with Christ in God. He is your life.
4 When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too - the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.
What Does God's Story Scripture teach us about being serious about our standards?
I am glad that this school did the honorable thing and admitted wrongdoing. But the truth is, the school lied about the their students test scores. They cared more about the way they looked to perspective students than by telling the truth. Only time will tell what the implications this will have on future and current students, but now the school has a reputation of skewing the truth.
God calls us to be "serious about this...new life". I love that this version tells us if indeed we are "serious" about this new live, we need to "ACT LIKE IT". Too often our society changes a few things here and there in order to make themselves look just a little bit better, I mean a small fudge in the numbers wont make a difference right?? Wrong. Its all about perspective, we can rationalize our choices and lies for days but as we become followers of Jesus, we are called to a new standard. A standard when we begin to try to see things from God's perspective, we stop looking at the floor and looking past the things in our lives that need to change. Its time to become serious about following Christ, what you are like not just on Sundays, youth group, or in bible club, but ever day and every situation in our daily lives. We must (with God's help) begin to live our truth in our daily lives. We must begin to be Serious about what we consider the truth, and what is right.
How can we connect today's God's Story scripture to our lives?
We must remind ourselves to see things from God's perspective, Verse 2 relates it to keeping your eyes on the ground and not looking up and seeing the bad that is around you.
We must remind ourselves to CARE enough to look up and to care enough to try and see things from God's perspective.
- Spend some time just you and Jesus, and ask him to show you where in your life do you need to gain His Perspective.
- Spend some time and Read psalm 51. Pray and think about the first time you came to know Christ, remember the new life He started in you.
- Ask God to "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10) "
- Reread today Colossians 3: 1-4 and ask God where you can change your "shuffle" into the "real You"
Be in silence during this time with the Lord, and listen to his still small voice this week!
How can we connect today's Story, God's Story, and My story to others?
- Tell this schools story, and ask your friends, "Do you think this school went to far just for a ranking"
- Be open and talk to your friends about blurring the lines in things in your life. Be prepared to tell a story where you may have blurred the lines or kept your eyes on the ground. Be prepared that many of your peers may not think what the school did was THAT bad.
Share about the real you and how you are trying to see things from a different perspective, God's perspective.
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