kitten corner: test scores
doing the math on school closures
i am good kitten and therefore not a naturally suspicious creature, but does anyone else here worry that maybe there is some conflict of interest with these epidemiologists who have been wrong about all their math also pushing polices that stop other people from learning math?
that’s a heckuva way to get job security…
(author’s note: this is measured in percentage points. typical pass rates are in the ~60-70% range for math.
thus, a 15 point overall drop (and closer to 20% in low attendance schools) implies that 20-25% of kids who were at “passing” no longer are.
Numeracy was necessary for an industrial society that required technically competent factory workers, mechanics, and engineers. Numeracy is unnecessary to a hyperreal society in which the bulk of the populace lives in pods, eats bugs, and spends their days plugged into Oculus Rift. In fact, numeracy is a net negative in such a case. Can't have the plebs doing math, they might realize things don't add up.
I’m grateful for my son’s Zoom classes after lockdown. I witnessed with my eyes and ears how his “Science “ teacher was indoctrinating they/their students. They/Them or Mx. (not Ms.)let their students know that they reaffirmed their gender identity over the summer. That was the best “science” lesson for me. My son is homeschooled now and will not step foot inside the Woke school district again.