College students are struggling with basic math,

[Anonymous]

I think it is important to look at the high school pathways. Students are railroaded into various tracks early on, some students are ready others are. It is almost impossible to switch to a different track once they have "caught up". The biggest problem - from an engineering professor - the students don't understand the concepts and aren't able to apply their math skills to what is needed in college. He has noticed that the basics like multiplication tables, algebra, and any standard equations should be known facts. The students don't have this knowledge and aren't able take a basic equation and apply it to a more complicated problem. He has found most of his teaching is geared to getting the students to understand the problem sets and the basics. That is not what should be happening in higher level classes in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is starting college in pre-calc that he took in 12th grade. He’s always been a terrible math student but his grades reflected that (mostly low Cs). But at least his private school was completely honest with us. His public MS gave him straight As in math including algebra 1 in 8th grade. When he took the algebra 1 placement test at his private HS, he failed miserably. There’s a lot of grade fraud going on in public education.

I don’t doubt you but how can you fake or inflate an algebra grade? I get it for other subjects. But isn’t Algebra a standard course? If you can’t solve X problems, you don’t get an A. I’m not being funny. I’m not American so maybe I’m confused.

[Anonymous]

Isn't this post just a whole lot of Fox News nothing? Colleges have always had lower tier math classes as options for non-math types. This is nothing new and is not a signal of decline. So sick of political repackaging to whip up fear and outrage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The truth as that American school and college students were always behind in basic math. This was decades before COVID. There is a reason that Asian-American parents are so stressed in this country. Issues like quality of education, lack of a good curriculum and instruction, no child left behind, no discipline and disruptive students, no textbooks, no finals. grade inflation - all point towards it. we knew that the quality of education in k-12 was shit. And that is the reason that for a decent and average education people go to magnet schools, Quality of private schools is also bad.

Should we emulate Japan or South Korea and send kids to cram schools after regular school? Maybe we should make having kids so miserable that people don't bother- that seems to be working great for those countries

Of course, we all know there is nothing in between

Calculus is attainable by anyone seeking a college degree. Math at this level is not hard. The US needs to remove the common perception/stigma that math is hard. We are creating a self fulfilling prophecy.

I agree. Even if you don't use it again it is training your brain for higher ordered thinking. All students deserve this.

We are already in a massive teacher shortage. Now you want to force people to learn calculus before they can teach kindergarten. Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't this post just a whole lot of Fox News nothing? Colleges have always had lower tier math classes as options for non-math types. This is nothing new and is not a signal of decline. So sick of political repackaging to whip up fear and outrage.

No. It’s a serious crisis that many colleges are experiencing, especially one like GMU, which is the most diverse institution of higher learning in the Commonwealth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't this post just a whole lot of Fox News nothing? Colleges have always had lower tier math classes as options for non-math types. This is nothing new and is not a signal of decline. So sick of political repackaging to whip up fear and outrage.

IKR? First everybody screams about grade inflation in the high schools; then when a kid earns a 5 on AP Calc, the peanut gallery says, well the APs have grade inflation; then then the student earns an A in multivariate calculus in college, the gallery says, well it's college grade inflation... until it's not, like when Fox claims kids are failing left and right. No one can decide!

Kids have been failing math for decades. Math is hard -- it's always been hard, for a lot of kids. Take a poll among your colleagues and you will see that many/most did not do well in math (unless, of course, you are en engineer).

[Anonymous]

At the levels of math below calc it’s not just that people might occasionally use the math, it’s also that being able to do the math reflects an ability to think logically.

In a world where mayors loudly & proudly proclaim their cities to be sanctuaries & are surprised when 100,000 migrants show up, do not underestimate the need for logical thinking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't this post just a whole lot of Fox News nothing? Colleges have always had lower tier math classes as options for non-math types. This is nothing new and is not a signal of decline. So sick of political repackaging to whip up fear and outrage.

Nope. It’s a subject of much debate in higher Ed. Google remedial courses college university. Read, in particular, comments on the Hechinger Report and anything in the Chronicle of Higher Education

[Anonymous]

When America was great a high school diploma meant more than somebody turned 18.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is starting college in pre-calc that he took in 12th grade. He’s always been a terrible math student but his grades reflected that (mostly low Cs). But at least his private school was completely honest with us. His public MS gave him straight As in math including algebra 1 in 8th grade. When he took the algebra 1 placement test at his private HS, he failed miserably. There’s a lot of grade fraud going on in public education.

I don’t doubt you but how can you fake or inflate an algebra grade? I get it for other subjects. But isn’t Algebra a standard course? If you can’t solve X problems, you don’t get an A. I’m not being funny. I’m not American so maybe I’m confused.

How? When students can retake assessments, they can get higher grades. Many students use the first assessment as a feeler for the retake. Add in that students are trained to not expect just one assessment and watch out when they get to college when that’s all they get.

[Anonymous]

I have dyscalculia and received no accommodations my entire school career. Somehow, I survived despite not being at the highest math level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have dyscalculia and received no accommodations my entire school career. Somehow, I survived despite not being at the highest math level.

Me too. I never understood any math class even remotely until Geometry in 10th grade (in the 1980s) when it all became tangible because I could "see" it rather than trying and failing to conceptualize it. I finally started getting solid B grades and in 11th grade I took Algebra 2 and the confidence gained in Geometry meant that I continued to get more solid B grades. Finally after years of C grades and having to repeat pre-algebra!

[Anonymous]

Pretty soon college diploma will be worthless like the education community made a high school diploma worthless. It’s gonna take a good economic depression from money printing to put Mother Nature back in the drivers seat.

[Anonymous]

I work in Information Technology, get paid 250K per year for the past ten years, and I have never used math beyond Algebra.  

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in Information Technology, get paid 250K per year for the past ten years, and I have never used math beyond Algebra.  

That's great. But I expect the new grads going for entry jobs in the same industry will need to demonstrate more Math knowledge now.