There has been an awful lot of hullabaloo surrounding this season’s SAT essay question, which has been deemed unfair or idiotic by some. Here it is:

Reality-television programs, which feature real people engaged in real activities rather than professional actors performing scripted scenes, are increasingly popular. These shows depict ordinary people competing in everything from singing and dancing to losing weight, or just living their everyday lives. Most people believe that the reality these shows portray is authentic, but they are being misled. How authentic can these shows be when producers design challenges for the participants and then editors alter filmed scenes?

I left this comment on the Daily Beast’s post about the controversy. What do you think?

To discount this question is to discount an entire academic discipline - that being Media Studies. I applaud the SAT for calling attention to an issue that I would argue, is more relevant to a majority of children (as well as adults), than say European Art History. People complain that the SAT is biased, well what is more accessible to students of all socio-economic backgrounds than television? 

One thing I will concede is the question is poorly worded. They might have used Reality TV as an example in a larger discussion about what is real and fake in the media. However, it was a bold move and step in the right direction. As we depend more on others to interpret news and information, thinking critically about the media will play more of a significant role in maintaining our cultural integrity as a society.

btw - Reality TV was responsible for putting gay people, interracial couples, biracial children, and people of all ages, shapes, and sizes in front of Middle America and if producers have to design contrived challenges to keep them on television, so be it.