Cal: A single counterexample is required to demonstrate that a claim is false. I learned that in a high school math class. Had I been been using my several years’ experience to argue that most kids who take precalculus know basic algebra, then your accusation would be valid. Or, you can continue to confuse pat insults with logical arguments. It’s your choice, of course.

The SAT math scores of high school seniors nationwide have a median of just above 500, which can’t be achieved without a basic understanding of both algebra and fractions. And then remember that the kids taking precalc are, as a group, doing much better than just slightly over 500. I’m sure that some small percentage of the poor and minority kids who sit in pre-calc classes haven’t absorbed any math, but they are a fraction of the whole.

Or you can continue to confuse actual data with anecdata. It’s your choice, of course.

Ha. Ha. Ha. Hoo boy; that’s a howler. I had precalc students who didn’t know that fractions were numbers.

Doesn’t that describe Hollywood? Or am I giving it too much credit?

No, actually, it doesn’t. Any kid taking precalc as a junior knows basic algebra–collage or not, verbs or not.

The collages, the poster boards, the drawings–they’re all disgusting jokes perpetrated on high-achieving students by teachers who didn’t do nearly as well when they themselves were in school. Most likely, this is part of their revenge on smart people. But by and large, the teachers in quality schools are teaching well.

The real issue in school these days is grades, not collages or other absurd artwork. It’s quite normal for the kid to get a D on the collage and have it count as a fourth of his grade, with the As in the tests and homework only counting for 50%.

Grades are becoming a monstrous joke. The elite kids are getting Bs and Cs for work that would give them an A in any other class, and the kids in urban and poor performing schools are getting As for work so incompetent that 8th graders would be flunked for it. And yet they are all being compared as equals for college admissions.

It happens that my son hates arts and crafts and is now a computer science major with well over 24 hours of advanced math courses behind him.

And she told me that he needed remedial math help.

The first chance I get to move to another planet, I’m outa here.