The Junior Meritocracy: Should a child's fate be sealed by an exam he takes at the age of 4? Why kindergarten-admission tests are worthless, at best.

Jennifer Senior:

Skylar Shafran, a turquoise headband on her brunette head and a pink princess shirt on her string-bean frame, is standing on a chair in her living room, shifting from left foot to right. She has already gulped down a glass of orange juice and nibbled on some crackers; she has also demonstrated, with extemporaneous grace, the ability to pick up Hello Kitty markers with her toes. For more than an hour, she has been answering questions to a mock version of an intelligence test commonly known to New York parents as the ERB. Almost every prestigious private elementary school in the city requires that prospective kindergartners take it. Skylar's parents, Liz and Jay, are pretty sure they know where they're sending their daughter to school next year, but they figure it can't hurt to get a sense of where she sits in the long spectrum of precocious New York children. And so, although it wasn't cheap--$350--they've hired someone to find out. Skylar has thus far borne this process with cheerful patience and determination. But every 4-year-old has her limits.

"What is an umbrella?" asks the evaluator, a psychology graduate student in her mid-twenties.

"To keep me dry."

"And what is a book?"

David Shenk has more.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at February 5, 2010 1:34 AM
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