Opinion piece dismissing the importance of math and test scores

80 Teaching Minds within a real and meaningful context works a whole lot better than shoving it down their throats and following that with a multiple choice test. But for the vast majority of citizens, Algebra II is never used. There is no evidence whatsoever that says that a nation that is trailing in math test scores will somehow trail in GDP or whatever it is we really care about. This is just plain silly, but we keep repeating the mantra that we are behind Korea in math as if it has been proven that this matters in some way. Nothing of the sort has been proven. What is true is that there are a great many vested interests that need to keep teaching math: tutoring companies, testing companies, math teachers, book publishers, and many others who make lots of money when people are scared into thinking that their kid won’t get into col- lege because he or she is bad at Algebra II. Nearly every grownup has forgotten whatever algebra he or she ever learned to pass those silly tests, so it is clear that algebra is meaningless for adult life. Any college professor who is honest will tell you that algebra almost never comes up in any college course, and when it does come up it usually needn’t be there in the first place. So, math isn’t important and history isn’t important. What is important? Tests. Tests are very important. Not to me, of course, but my vote isn’t being counted. The past two presidents have been obsessed with raising test scores. I am assuming this is true because some political analysts somewhere have determined that the general public believes in the significance of raising tests scores and will vote for politicians who are able to show that they have done it. There can’t be any other reason. Try taking those tests. Most of them are available online. See how well you can do at them. But what could really be wrong with testing and emphasizing test scores? TESTING TEACHES THAT THERE ARE RIGHT ANSWERS The problem is that in real life, the important questions don’t have an- swers that are clearly right or wrong. “Knowing the answer” has made school into Jeopardy. It is nice to win a game show, but important HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_023826