Ever since I encountered Emmanuel Felton’s article “How the Common Core is Transforming the SAT” a couple of days ago and wrote my ensuing diatribe, I’ve been trying to figure out just why The Atlantic in particular would publish information so blatantly false. Sure, there have been plenty of articles regurgitating the standard hype about the new test, in pretty much every major media outlet, but this one crossed a line.
To be perfectly fair, Felton doesn’t actually state flat-out that analogies are still included on the test, but with lines such as On the reading side, gone are analogies like “equanimity is to harried” as “moderation is to dissolute,” the implication is so strong that it’s pretty much impossible for casual readers not to draw that conclusion.
Then, halfway through my run this morning, I had a “duh” moment. I had somehow forgotten that the Atlantic had partnered with the College Board to run an annual “analytical writing” contest for high school students.
In fact, James Bennett, the president and editor-chief of The Atlantic even appears in this College Board video on analytical writing for the new APUSH exam. That exam is Coleman’s baby.
Coincidence? I think not.
Mystery solved.