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Standardized tests include a reading & comprehension section. There is a short essay to read, followed by 5-7 questions about the essay, with anywhere from 3 to 10 essays in a given test. They want the essays to be good, but not famous, because it wouldn't be fair if a student had already devoted a lot of time to understanding this one particular passage in class. Often they are short biographies of not-well-known-but-skilled-in-their-field people.
And no, there was probably never a risk of using one about Hunter S. Thompson, sex and drugs were never going to be in there. But video games, rap music, parapsychology... sure. They try to be hip and connect with the kids, which is dumb but it's what they do. A high school student might actually be interested in a short biography of a top video game designer, or a producer of rap music.
Personally? I don't really have a problem with the list. It's exhaustive, which is kind of irritating in the way that all government things must be exhaustive. But all of the topics generally fall into a handful of categories:
1.) Things which are just age-inappropriate (sex, drugs, etc.)
2.) Things which are mildly upsetting to legitimately large groups of people--not bringing them to tears, but upsetting in a frustration/anger type of way. Even low-level frustration is going to affect test scores. If a kid has been brought up to believe evolution is a lie, obviously that's something that needs to be worked on as a separate issue, but don't remind him about how frustrated he is with those liars in the scientific elite right in the middle of a test that's going to affect a school's funding. Likewise, if a kid's dad died on 9/11, reading about terrorism isn't going to make him unable to take the test, but it probably will distract him. It will get him thinking about his dad, rather than focusing on the test.
3.) Things which only rich people have. Swimming pools, vacations, computers in the home... There was a study done that showed that African-American students did measurably worse on tests where they were asked to declare their race in the initial identity information, and better when they were only asked for their name and not their race. Call it self-esteem or a victim mindset, the reality is that kids do worse when they feel worse is expected of them. And I think it's a reasonable logical leap to say that when they are reminded that they're poor (and thus "no good, never going to amount to anything, not going to make it to college like rich Susie is," etc. etc.) they're going to do worse as well.
All of it points back to a fundamental problem with standardized testing, which is a truly awful institution in my opinion. But if we're going to have to do it, I think it should be done as fairly as possible.
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