Most shocking, U.S. high school graduates in all 50 states and the District of Columbia recorded their lowest math scores in twenty years. According to the ACT College Readiness Benchmark in mathematics, only 40 percent of 2018 graduates are ready for a college level algebra class. Math scores have been plummeting in recent years. In 2012, American students scored 21.1. Last year the average score was 20.7. This year, students scored a meager 20.5.
ACT CEO Marten Roorda is deeply concerned about this negative trend in mathematics. She calls the drop-off in test scores “a red flag for our country” especially in a tech-driven global job market where math and science are vitally important to success.
The ACT isn’t harder than it once was. This curriculum-based achievement test surveys schools and determines what is important for success in a first year college course. The ACT measures the academic skills that are most important for success after high school.
The problem over the past eight years are the one-size-fits all procedures that the public education system has adopted from Bill Gate’s Common Core program. Adopted back in 2010, this federalized education system coerced school districts with financial incentives from the federal government. As local school districts gave up control over their curriculum, local educators were forced to teach from a nationalized set of core standards. From 2010 to 2015, local teachers and school board members had no choice but to concede to common core. The local teacher doesn't choose what is on the tests, and now these nationalized tests dictate what is taught in most classrooms across the country. A teacher’s success is gauged on their ability to teach students to comply, just like they have to.
This top-down education system has stifled innovation, taken away individual choice, and tied the hands of local educators. The one-size-fits all common core standards do not inspire students and do not prepare them for the real world. The plunge in ACT test scores shows that students aren’t getting any smarter. They are being dumbed down by a controlling system that does not inspire learning. The majority of students no longer want to ask questions and push the boundaries of science. They don’t want to explore the depths of knowledge in reading. The majority aren’t even prepared to calculate and compute mathematics.
Common Core abandons time-tested approaches to solving math problems. Common Core indoctrinates students with so-called “settled science,” discouraging students from asking questions and seeking answers of their own. Common Core is laced with corporate and industry propaganda and sells a very limited perspective in the subjects of social sciences and history. Common Core pushes for social justice initiatives, which are out of touch with reality. Common Core distracts students with screens, but doesn’t impart the freedom necessary for students to explore past the boundaries. Common Core is presented in a way to indoctrinate, instead of expanding student’s own ability to problem solve and pursue knowledge.
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