``Tests of intelligence and acievement typically present the subject
with a few paragraphs of prose and a limited time in which to read
them.  Then there are questions about the passage of prose.  The
passage might be from a textbook on pit bull agression, and it might
go something like this:

  Over a three-year period, 20 out of 28 people killed by dogs in
  the United States were victims of pit bull attacks.

  Pit bulls are especially dangerous because of their double jaws,
  which are developed by inbreeding so that they can hold on with
  the front jaw while they chew away behind.  These dogs are genetically
  vicsious and their training is part of their genetics.

  Also, families may honestly believe that their dog is a gentle pet,
  never realizing that they might be harboring a dog who suffers from
  the Jekyll-Hyde syndrome and might turn on the children at any moment.
  Funding for expert evaluation and investigation of this crisis is
  required immediately.

  The threat represented by these dogs, one of the many tragic results of
  the increasing drug trade in America, is insidious and urgent.

Then you have your test questions.  For example:

1.  How many persons died of dog attacks in the study period?

2.  How many of these deaths were caused by pit bulls?

3.  Why is the apparent docility of a family pet misleading?

4.  What causes the Jekyll-Hyde syndrome?

5.  What is unusual about a pit bull's jaws?

The students have no time to question this material, only to believe it
quickly so that it will stick in their heads.

This is why Charlie, who takes care of the cows, and George, the ex-cop,
are not as interested in learning Dan Rather's abstractions as the high
school student who is taking the test with an eye on a career in
communications.  This may also be why it is harder for Blacks and Hispanics
to believe what they read on comprehension tests, at least to believe it in
time to answer the questions.  Cultural competence so often becomes a matter of
managing to believe things quickly enough, and cynicism entails slow belief,
at least of certain things.  Specifically, cynicism means being slow to believe
anything a dog can't believe, and one of the things dogs have trouble
understanding, and thus believing in, is the righteousness of the ASPCA
uniform.''

Vicki Hearne, _Bandit: Dossier of a Dangerous Dog_ p.131-132