For me, the tyranny of the test, started quite early. My parents were teachers so I was rigorously prepared for standardized testing. As a high school junior (attending a well-respect white suburban (small) high school) I took the PSAT not realizing that it was the qualifying exam for the National Merit Scholar program and its sister program the National Achievement Scholar program. Seven of the high school students in the St. Louis area in 1973 who were named National Achievement scholars, including myself, had been classmates in what had been the St. Louis Public School system's "gifted" program. $1500 over four years wasn't a lot of money but it was something.