Anonymous wrote:At my kid’s school, the best students got into UCSD this year. Perhaps they’re paying closer attention.

The problem isn't the best students from a regular performing high school- it's the best students from low-performing ones. The result is what you see, college students who can't do 8th grade math.

Anonymous wrote:I don't get the issue. There are kids at all colleges who need remedial help - even the elite ones. If they're getting the help they need, then what is the problem? Oh, that they took spots from kids who had good math instruction in high school?

Because elite college admissions should go to qualified students otherwise these college aren’t elite anymore.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is directly related to the earlier post about top tier privates. The reason "middling" kids get in to top colleges from these schools is that colleges know that they are prepared. Many public schools are a different story.

Tell that to this area's top publics, which teach math beyond AP Calc BC. My 10th grader in Montgomery County Public schools is going into multivariable calculus next year. No private school in the DC region teaches that.

Maybe you should accept that decent universities know a bit more about the rigor in private and public high schools than you do.

Our private as well as a nearby private teaches mulitivariable and linear algebra as post-BC courses. PhD’s teachthe courses

Which ones?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is directly related to the earlier post about top tier privates. The reason "middling" kids get in to top colleges from these schools is that colleges know that they are prepared. Many public schools are a different story.

Tell that to this area's top publics, which teach math beyond AP Calc BC. My 10th grader in Montgomery County Public schools is going into multivariable calculus next year. No private school in the DC region teaches that.

Maybe you should accept that decent universities know a bit more about the rigor in private and public high schools than you do.

Most area privates teach multi variable calculus.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is directly related to the earlier post about top tier privates. The reason "middling" kids get in to top colleges from these schools is that colleges know that they are prepared. Many public schools are a different story.

Tell that to this area's top publics, which teach math beyond AP Calc BC. My 10th grader in Montgomery County Public schools is going into multivariable calculus next year. No private school in the DC region teaches that.

Maybe you should accept that decent universities know a bit more about the rigor in private and public high schools than you do.

Don't take this for granted. The MCPS BOE looks like they may unravel math acceleration soon.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is directly related to the earlier post about top tier privates. The reason "middling" kids get in to top colleges from these schools is that colleges know that they are prepared. Many public schools are a different story.

Tell that to this area's top publics, which teach math beyond AP Calc BC. My 10th grader in Montgomery County Public schools is going into multivariable calculus next year. No private school in the DC region teaches that.

Maybe you should accept that decent universities know a bit more about the rigor in private and public high schools than you do.

Are you finished bragging about the only thing left in MCPS worth bragging about (in the 90s?) Blair magnet.

This is precisely where you reach max cognitive dissonance - a school filled with majority first generation Hispanic from silver spring as well as first generation hospitalists from South Asia in Rockville and a few anglos wacky enough to live in MS 13 TP.

There are two schools in one building!

Talk about two Americas!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is directly related to the earlier post about top tier privates. The reason "middling" kids get in to top colleges from these schools is that colleges know that they are prepared. Many public schools are a different story.

Tell that to this area's top publics, which teach math beyond AP Calc BC. My 10th grader in Montgomery County Public schools is going into multivariable calculus next year. No private school in the DC region teaches that.

Maybe you should accept that decent universities know a bit more about the rigor in private and public high schools than you do.

Our private as well as a nearby private teaches mulitivariable and linear algebra as post-BC courses. PhD’s teachthe courses

Retakes aren’t the problem. The goal of retakes should be to ensure a student goes back and relearns the material before moving on. Give a student a C as a final grade and they have zero motivation to figure out why. In a course like math, the lessons build and the student lacks a foundation. This, of course, means providing students with a new version of the quiz. DS went to a great private school that allowed retakes in math for this very reason in MS. When he got to MCPS HS, he had a super strong grasp. In HS, some teachers allowed an occasional retake. He got a 5 on his AP Calc exam and As in all his college math courses. Those retakes in MS didn’t hurt him at all. What he learned is to always go back and see what you missed and figure out where you have gaps. The point of school should be learning.

Now why was this individual unprepared. There are a slew of possibilities. Perhaps the curriculum left gaps. Perhaps a teacher was grading on a significant curve because the school was underperforming. Or perhaps they are just like me and have trouble retaining skills that are taught in isolation and not used regularly.

I don't get the issue. There are kids at all colleges who need remedial help - even the elite ones. If they're getting the help they need, then what is the problem? Oh, that they took spots from kids who had good math instruction in high school?

Anonymous wrote:Whatever policy UCSD is following is doing more harm than good. There are over 120,000 seniors who graduate high school in California every year. It is kind of sad that the UC's can't fill their freshmen class with students who can do basic math. They have free community college. Why aren't the students who need remedial help attending one of those?

The crazy thing is that California has banned remedial classes at community colleges! They felt it was discouraging for students to sometimes take remedial classes over and over, never making progress toward a degree and paying more money. Now they have to sink or swim, which results in some (many?) dropping out and not getting a degree anyway.

UCs have lost the plot.

Anonymous wrote:A consequence of grade inflation and test optional. I wonder how this helps disadvantaged students if they get admission but are unable to keep up or need to change to easier majors? Shouldn’t schools do a better job of teaching and providing resources for these students?

https://www.chalkbeat.org/2026/05/05/ucsd-student-says-high-school-math-grade-inflation-hurt-college-readiness/

“ I usually passed with A’s and B’s, but I feel like a lot of the information never really stuck with me, just because we were granted so many opportunities to redo exams and homework. It felt like as long as you retake the exam and get 100% it doesn’t matter if you really know what you’re doing or not.”

Wait what kind of school lets kids "redo" exams??

At my kid’s school, the best students got into UCSD this year. Perhaps they’re paying closer attention.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because otherwise white people would ask how many Asians would be enough? 50%? 100%?

When 100% of people receiving a state-sponsored benefit come from a visible minority that makes up under 20% of the state population, you should probably anticipate political difficulties.

Agreed. The easiest way not to waste taxpayers’ dollar is to admit people who need middle school remedial math.

I didn’t say the voters were rational.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because otherwise white people would ask how many Asians would be enough? 50%? 100%?

When 100% of people receiving a state-sponsored benefit come from a visible minority that makes up under 20% of the state population, you should probably anticipate political difficulties.

Agreed. The easiest way not to waste taxpayers’ dollar is to admit people who need middle school remedial math.