RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2023/01/04/with_schools_ditching_merit_for_diversity_families_of_high_achievers_say_were_out_of_here_872909.html

Alex Shilkrut has deep roots in Manhattan, where he has lived for 16 years, works as a physician, and sends his daughter to a public elementary school for gifted students in coveted District 2. 

It’s a good life. But Shilkrut regretfully says he may leave the city, as well as a job he likes in a Manhattan hospital, because of sweeping changes in October that ended selective admissions in most New York City middle schools.

These merit-based schools, which screened for students who met their high standards, will permanently switch to a lottery for admissions that will almost certainly enroll more blacks and Latinos in the pursuit of racial integration.  

Shilkrut is one of many parents who are dismayed by the city’s dismantling of competitive education. He says he values diversity but is concerned that the expectation that academic rigor will be scaled back to accommodate a broad range of students in a lottery is what’s driving him and other parents to seek alternatives.

Although it’s too early to know how many students might leave the school system due to the enrollment changes, some parents say they may opt for private education at $50,000 a year and others plan to uproot their lives for the suburbs despite the burdens of such moves. 
 
“We will very likely leave the public schools,” says Shilkrut, adding that he knows 10 Manhattan families who also plan to depart. “And if these policies continue, there won’t be many middle- and upper middle-class families left in the public schools.” 

https://www.realcleareducation.com/articles/2023/01/03/science_and_math_teaching_need_an_upgrade_110805.html

The United States needs mathematicians and scientists who can, among other things, learn about the natural world, discover new technologies, and help the country maintain its military advantage over China. As presently operating, American public K-12 schools aren’t up to the job. Far too many of our children graduate from high school without enough knowledge of mathematics and science to prepare them for college, much less for a career. They aren’t even educated sufficiently to judge news reports and public policy proposals that require mathematical and scientific knowledge.

State education departments need first to ensure that mathematics standards correctly sequence mathematics instruction in order to provide sufficient classroom time for rigorous education. Education reformers should make sure that K-12 schools teach Algebra I in the eighth grade as the foundation for four years of high school mathematics education. All K-7 mathematics standards should be aligned to prepare students to take and pass Algebra I in the eighth grade. High school mathematics standards should include Algebra II, Geometry, Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus, and either Introductory Calculus or Introductory Statistics.

Statistics is an intrinsically important subject and an extraordinarily useful one for scientific careers. State education standards should allow local school districts to choose whether to cap the mathematics sequence with Introductory Calculus, Introductory Statistics, or both. Earlier K-12 mathematics standards should incorporate the suggestions of the American Statistical Association to make sure that students are as ready at the end of the eleventh grade to take a course in Introductory Statistics as they are to take a course in Introductory Calculus. 

Of course, not every K-12 student will go on to a scientific career. But all K-12 students should learn basic statistical and scientific literacy, and especially how to detect specious arguments presented in the guise of scientific authority. Every high school student should take a course in science literacy, which should teach students to understand, evaluate, and apply basic statistical and scientific concepts when they appear in media and public policy. This course should be organized around four sequences devoted to statistics literacy, risk analysis, experimental design, and the irreproducibility crisis of modern science. Students should learn to use these skills both as citizens judging journalism and policy and as businessmen and administrators making professional decisions.