The fact is that high schools are graduating kids with As and Bs in advanced math courses who haven’t mastered foundational skills. The data from the UCSD report makes that clear. 20% took calculus in high school! Their GPA in math classes is ~3.6!
This is happening all over the country. Kids are over-reliant on calculators and generous grading policies.
Because the UC system does test-blind admissions, these kids look like skilled math students. (Applicants are not allowed to even submit ACT or SAT scores at UC schools.) Their foundational math gaps are only identified when they take the freshman math placement exam (no calculator allowed) and find out they aren’t qualified for pre-calc or higher math at the collegiate level.
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“This deterioration coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on education, the elimination of standardized testing, grade inflation, and the expansion of admissions from under-resourced high schools
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The degree of rot here is similar to that disclosed in the boardroom of the firm in the first act of Margin Call. In this case, there are no captive buyers to dump this ongoing human calamity onto — and it is not unique to one college. This is everywhere, everyone knows it, everyone knows why it happened, and everyone knows that nothing has happened to stop it from happening into perpetuity.