College Professors Say Incoming Students No Longer Understand Middle School Math and Science


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“We now observe preparation gaps so severe that instructors must reteach middle-school mathematics while simultaneously teaching the material students need for sciences, engineering, economics, and other quantitatively demanding fields”

 

College Professors Say Incoming Students No Longer Understand Middle School Math and Science
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While I agree with the sentiment, one objection I have is that it is largely still blaming the problem on COVID and now AI. This is a problem that has been going on for decades, though the rate of decline is largely increasing.

The simple fact is that, by human nature, if you don't require demonstrated math proficiency to be accepted into college, students (and schools) are going to put that on a lower priority level. If colleges emphasize essay writing and extracurricular activities and aren't going to even consider performance on SAT/ACT or other entrance exams, is it any surprise that students and schools will shift their emphasis to writing essays and providing extracurricular activities? Both students and schools have limited time and resources and do not make their decisions on how to use either in a vacuum.

Can anyone even imagine colleges accepting athletes for their intercollegiate programs by doing away with tryouts or scouting on the basis that not every student in the country has equal access to athletic preparation and training?

 

But the slide rule had one major advantage:
The user had to determine the order of magnitude of the result on their own.
And besides, they learned that by applying logarithms, multiplication can be reduced to simple addition.

Well one doesn't need a slide rule to understand that "multiplication can be reduced to simple addition".

 

 

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This would be an excellent exam idea for an archaeology class.