The mathematics crisis in public schools

 

By Molly Slag

On the youth employment front, online news alerts us to both an opportunity and an obstacle. STEM is the opportunity. STEM jobs are significantly outpacing non-STEM jobs in both availability and security.

However, calculus is the gateway to STEM. Hence, mathematics is the obstacle. The Epoch Times Reports,

The latest report from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, based on 2024 state test scores, indicated that most public high school seniors earn diplomas without being proficient in math, while most 4th and 8th-grade math students perform below grade level.

Numerous hits confirming this report can be readily found by simply searching with a query along the lines of “decline of student math skills.”

If we could be a mouse in the corner of the typical college calculus classroom, we would observe a solemn ritual that occurs at the close of every class period. As the professor announces the end of class and turns to erase his hieroglyphics from the board, a chorus of “Please don’t erase!” erupts in unison as 4 or 5 students arise from their seats and march to the front.

Each of these students has a question, and most remarkably, they all have the same question. Each student asks the professor, “How did you get from here (student points to a location in the hieroglyphics) to here (student points to a downstream location)? The exact locations of the student’s inquiry may well vary from student to student, but the quest of the interrogatory is the same: By what logic did the professor move from the first location to the second?

Most important for our present purposes is to note that the question all these students have in common is not a calculus question. It is, instead, an algebra question. The sticking point for these students is the algebra they were supposed to learn in high school, not the calculus itself. A student cannot succeed in calculus without a solid grounding in algebra, and these students are among the many who passed from high school to college without that solid grounding.

Therefore, we can see that many high school students today who feel drawn to a STEM career face a crisis. The college STEM curriculum requires calculus, which requires a solid grounding in algebra, which high school does not provide. This is a crisis for American society.

Is there a remedy for this crisis?

Yes, there is, but it is neither simple nor easy. The goal is for those students who seek a STEM career to graduate from high school ready for college calculus. Realizing this goal demands seriously modifying the high school mathematics curriculum in both quantity and quality.

Regarding quantity, there must be more time on task. Mathematics instruction time must increase, perhaps with two classes per day, with a study hall in between. Even better tutoring would be available during that study period.

Regarding quality, there must be instruction in math topics sufficient to prepare the student for college calculus. One measure would be to cover in high school all the math topics covered in the remedial courses at the local community college. If some of these topics are beyond the reach of high school math teachers, then state education law must allow for emergency certification to ensure adequate teachers.

One way to enforce this would be for state law to require colleges to bill the high schools for the cost of remedial college coursework.

These remedial recommendations sound drastic because the crisis they address is serious.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/11/the_mathematics_crisis_in_public_schools.html