The oppressive nature of admission tests to public higher education

Abstract

Standardized tests, as other elements of oppression, “originate, develop and are contained” within a matrix of domination (Collins, 2009). Since the use of standardized tests reproduces social hierarchies and inequality, I analyze how the three functions of John Dewey’s democratic education (Bowles & Gintis, 2011) contradict one another and reveal the anti-dialogical nature of the process of admission to public higher education. To develop this argument, I provide a brief historical review of the origins of standardized testing. Then I discuss how the integrative, egalitarian and developmental functions of education have no relationship in the discourse of the national system of evaluation.