SAT ESSAY...Why It Should Be More Important To More People

One of my someday things on my blog is to tackle other topics that I have "drafted" previously for later development.  So this morning I'll tackle SAT ESSAY.

Unfortunately, since the state has cancelled the SAT for April 14 due to Covid19, this particular topic is a little moot.  Here's the deal, though, I really like the SAT ESSAY task, and I wish our school and staff would better embrace it.  Essentially, the task is for students to read a passage, determine how the author is attempting to be influential, and then writing their own explanatory essay sharing their analysis of the author's efforts.  This particular task is SO IMPORTANT, especially for today's students as they are consistently bombarded on social media with information that may or may not be accurate and/or from credible sources.

As students develop into adults, isn't an important life skill to show an ability to analyze how a person attempts to be influential in a message?  When watching an infomercial, isn't it important to be able to recognize how a particular message is crafted to get audience members to buy?  What about a radio commercial?  How about a political campaign advertisement?  What about a post-secondary path training rep? 

I'm not suggesting that every message requires very careful critical analysis, but students should at least have the wherewithal and knowledge and ability to be able to analyze a message and the author's persuasive tactics woven into the message.

Here's my concern...I feel like I'm on an island of concern.  At Rockridge, we require students to complete the essay, when it's actually optional.  What do we do with those results, though?  And if the students know that the essay doesn't factor into the composite score, and it's the last assessment at the end of the morning on test day, how much do they try?  So there seems to be a disconnect between requiring the students to complete the assessment and how much importance that students and staff and school district place on it.  It's all a bit confusing.  I don't get it.