School has given straight-A grades to the student, who can't do basic math | Hacker News Reader

School has given straight-A grades to the student, who can't do basic math

nypost.com

22 pointsobscurette36 comments

So many odd aspects to this. The mom was already an activist involved in education and was going to question the state's approach to education even before she found out her kid was struggling with maths.

And she thinks she was decieved by his Elementary School even though he's bright and industrious and running his own successful business at 14?

Many things are not adding up here.

I'd assume based on being in the NYPost that it's propaganda, but it's at the very least weird propaganda.

My first impression was this could have been written by a rogue opencode agent. There's nothing in the article to suggest this is the story of a real person.

"they" are quite unhappy with Mamdani as mayor, and they're trying their damndest to besmirch NYC in any way possible right now.

It's similar propaganda to the 1619 author's story a few weeks ago.

New Mexico has been the lowest scoring state for academic achievement for eight years running. I had no idea when I started substitute teaching last year, but learned fast. In an algebra class for tenth graders, there were two kids ready for it out of twenty. I kept backing up to reach the LCD to start teaching from, and discovered that most of the class were not competent at addition and subtraction, let alone advanced topics like division and fractions. Yet they all get passed along with their peers.

This is the cohort that was supposed to learn this material during the covid years, but got a free pass. I think most of them will probably not catch up, and their career choices will be circumscribed by it. The overwrought covid safetyism with regard to children has untold numbers of lifelong victims.

> This is the cohort that was supposed to learn this material during the covid years, but got a free pass. I think most of them will probably not catch up, and their career choices will be circumscribed by it. The overwrought covid safetyism with regard to children has untold numbers of lifelong victims.

We are all going to be victims of this cohort. These are people who will be unable to integrate into society due to lack of basic competency skills.

I doubt their reading skills are much better.

Imagine a doctor refusing to acknowledge a brain tumor in a child because the diagnosis might cause them and their families distress. That doctor would be guilty of serious malpractice.

The "no child left behind" policies do this on an industrial scale. Failing to acknowledge learning deficiencies and differences in ability causes far more long term damage than being honest about it up front.

It's always interesting to see government insiders (elected officials, employees, whatever) act surprised and offended at Americans not trusting "their" government any more.

Yeah, the mom featured in the article should also double-check her son's abilities in spelling. And other subjects.

EDIT: Math grade inflation really ain't new. Back in the later 1980's, I taught a few lower-level math courses at (on paper) a major research university in Michigan. Rule of thumb was that every undergrad taking our "Algebra 101" course (of which there were thousands every year) had gotten through all 4 years of their high school's top-end math courses. With good grades. Hard reality was that any student who actually learned and retained 1 1/2 years of HS math could easily place out of the course. And there were still loads of students who still couldn't manage to get an easy "B-" when they took our hand-holding Algebra 101 course.

I was tutoring math last year to high schoolers; I had one student who was receiving B’s in math at her public high school, and she could not do -4 times 1 or correctly answer 2 divided by 2.

This is very common in Chicago where I was a teaching instructor in a former life and witnessed this behavior across the board.

If (many, not all) public schools forced students to learn math where they were supposed to learn, unfortunately, the entire system would come to a stop, as almost no students can do basic math.

Might be good though to let people know where we really are as a society. Take a couple years off work back up with our rudiments.

yeah, if only they could also force them to eat, and force them to live in equitable communities where the schools arn't starved of resources via private property interests.

There is no shortage whatsoever of funding for public schools in urban areas. New York City spends more per student than anywhere else in the US. <https://www.silive.com/news/2019/06/how-much-does-new-york-c...> Baltimore, an incredibly poor and run-down city, spends the third most. #4-6 and #8 are all wealthy suburbs of Washington DC, but their schools are all far better than those of Baltimore or NYC on average, despite Baltimore spending slightly more per student and NYC spending 60-70% more.

I think you really just have a bad metric for "worth" here: https://salary-converter.com/blog/articles/teacher-salary-vs...

Look at the adjusted COL numbers. Whatever you think they're paying money for, it's not the people directly responsible for teach children.

This is intentional degradation of communities.

They got equitable grades. Why would you want them to get equitable communities?

masic?

Also, the title would read better without the comma.

basic bath

Kids today can’t do this either

This is corruption.

at least no child is being left behind, right?

There is a famous image they show educators with the title "equity" and it shows the shorter person standing on more boxes than the larger so they are all standing at the same height. This is the current philosophy modern education is built on. They want everyone to reap the same rewards and it is seen as a failure, sometimes even "discrimination" if they don't as it can highlight the differences between certain demographics if they don't receive the same grades. If you speak against this you will likely be treated with hostility and swiftly pushed out (a few are more open minded). They reinforce their beliefs to themselves by coming up with award ceremonies that award anything that promotes "equity" without actually achieving greater education. Very cult-like behaviour.

How about instead of equality, equity, we use the word charity, as you would for a relative.

If a student comes from a disadvantaged neighborhood, out of charity give additional opportunities, assistance, treat them as individuals instead of a group, but don't let them off the hook. If the student won't take the opportunities, you can lead them to water but can't make them drink. Spend the effort on those who want to drink, regardless of background or current condition.

Why assume that bad students are from a "disadvantaged neighborhood"? Why not just orient this charity towards good students?

Achieving greater education for those that are disadvantaged is difficult, it is much easier to inflate grades and imagine you are making progress. Just another form of Goodhart's law playing out.

Edit: In all fairness, teaching in general is hard especially for a teacher in a public school, so I do also hold sympathy for them. And not all of them agree with the practices.

The destruction of the US public education system is intentional, planned, and desired. Only the children of the wealthy will be properly educated going forward.

Future generations of US citizens will be the uneducated labor of the global society. Probably 2-3 generations from now.

Which is weird, because this 100% at the behest of the teachers unions. Depr of education, no child left behind, covid closures, disparate impact, etc.

No Child Left Behind was a Republican thing. Specifically George W Bush as it had elements of federal control that some other Republicans didn't like.

Teacher unions didn't like it.

> planned

by whom?

> desired

to what end?

The Republican Party, to the end of making an entire generation that only votes Republican because they don't know any better.

So the Republican Party, that hasn't controlled public school policy in Queens since ever (Democratic since formation in 1898), is somehow responsible for the policy to give failing students As?

That's a fascinating twist.

I think the problem is much deeper, but the Republicans didn't help with No Child Left Behind.

I think as economic circumstances changed (post 1970s era deregulation, post 1990s offshoring, etc), the oligarchy waged a war on the American working class, and just as industrial research was offloaded to universities (except for the big 3 of pharma, cars, some tech), companies also offloaded learning and credentials to the school system.

So the solution became "go to college to stand out", but that means getting good grades, so grades matter even more.

Recognizing this, the Republicans passed "No Child Left Behind". They elected to not improve teacher pay, not restructure the system, just lower standards that were already under pressure to be lowered to the least common denominator.

There was a recent congressional hearing, and one of the speakers was saying that post Covid / post internet students were struggling more than ever, and in response the SAT was redrafted to be easier to solve with people with low attention spans and low critical reasoning skills.

School districts are in on it too. Teachers try their best, but the district wants federal and state funding, and the easiest way is to make school easy, pass all the kids with a pulse, ensure their attendance is good, etc etc. And most principals enforce this policy, pressuring teachers to relax their grades.

planned by the wealthy who subsidize the politicians (when necessary).

To make objects for the wealthy to buy.

The exact same way it is now except the makers are in Asia and the wealthy are in the West.

By the time most of you accept reality it will be too late to change it.

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