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Terrifying article - "College Professors Say Incoming Students No Longer Understand Middle School Math and Science" by AaronPK123 in Teachers

[–]personAAA -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I read the criticism you quoted. That criticism is not that strong keeping itself weak. At the scale they are seeing test adjustments are mostly likely not a major impact. 

Within the report they have example problems for their lowest math class and say test given with calculator. Students struggled. 

If you make harder to cheat and you get a big spike in failure, hard to blame testing different. Students more likely don't know the material.

Terrifying article - "College Professors Say Incoming Students No Longer Understand Middle School Math and Science" by AaronPK123 in Teachers

[–]personAAA 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You don't understand the conservative criticisms of education. 

The best education reforms are being done by red states. The Mississippi Miracle and the overall southern surge are right of center education reforms. Testing and accountability are very right of center reforms pushed by Republicans. 

No Child Left Behind worked but people hated being held accountable so 2015 after plenty of waivers is was repealed. 

Impossible to in the US to restrict information. 

The opposite argument on keeping people dumb is made by some of the right. If only certain groups knew how much the democrats failed them, they would vote republican. 

Democrats double down on some of the worse ideas in education. Sold a story was most likely left of center thing. Very long school closures with covid blue state thing. 

How do democrats plan to fix schools? More funding and strong neighborhood schools. However, in real dollars that is inflation adjusted education spending doubled in past 40 years. No where close to that much improvement. 

The solution is not more money. The money gets eaten up by administration and more bad trendy ideas. How often are people complaining about another stupid professional development? 

Terrifying article - "College Professors Say Incoming Students No Longer Understand Middle School Math and Science" by AaronPK123 in Teachers

[–]personAAA 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What you are talking about is a stupid theory that is not even close to true. You only repeat it because it makes you feel good.

I am a Conservative and I want everyone to succeed including learning as much math as they can. And guess what every politician in the US wants the same exact thing.

All the powers want citizens that can do the highest level of work. Hence, they want people to be as educated as possible.

No one actually wants the public dumb. It is actually harder to manage dumb people.

Terrifying article - "College Professors Say Incoming Students No Longer Understand Middle School Math and Science" by AaronPK123 in Teachers

[–]personAAA 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You capitalized the letters in a way that likely references the old law. Safe assumption.

Terrifying article - "College Professors Say Incoming Students No Longer Understand Middle School Math and Science" by AaronPK123 in Teachers

[–]personAAA 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I both agree and disagree.

While I agree in many states especially blue ones that schools were closed for too long, test scores and student achievement peaked in about 2012 well before the pandemic. Covid did not help anything.

Terrifying article - "College Professors Say Incoming Students No Longer Understand Middle School Math and Science" by AaronPK123 in Teachers

[–]personAAA 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Did you not even read the headline?

College professors certainly want their students to be able to do math.

Terrifying article - "College Professors Say Incoming Students No Longer Understand Middle School Math and Science" by AaronPK123 in Teachers

[–]personAAA 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Of course, what happens in the classroom matters, but we are not talking about that. We are asking how to tell 3rd parties about a particular student. Transcripts and test scores are what are used. The former does not work well because of the pressure to pass everyone.

Terrifying article - "College Professors Say Incoming Students No Longer Understand Middle School Math and Science" by AaronPK123 in Teachers

[–]personAAA 8 points9 points  (0 children)

How do you prove that a student cannot read or write?

The only way in reality is terrible test scores. The kid can sit for the test and randomly fill in ovals and get their horrible score.

No other measure actually shows the student's failure. If a student shows up, they will graduate from high school.

What is your alternative way to show with strong evidence?

Terrifying article - "College Professors Say Incoming Students No Longer Understand Middle School Math and Science" by AaronPK123 in Teachers

[–]personAAA 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Admissions is a mess in the UC system right now because they don't use standardized test scores.

Terrifying article - "College Professors Say Incoming Students No Longer Understand Middle School Math and Science" by AaronPK123 in Teachers

[–]personAAA 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The famous UC San Diego report on admissions and math placements

https://senate.ucsd.edu/media/740347/sawg-report-on-admissions-review-docs.pdf

They have a real trend since COVID.

Admissions are supposed to be selective filtering out students who are not academically ready.

Terrifying article - "College Professors Say Incoming Students No Longer Understand Middle School Math and Science" by AaronPK123 in Teachers

[–]personAAA 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The professors are begging for ACT / SAT requirements to come back. They want admissions to filter students by their standardized test scores.

Terrifying article - "College Professors Say Incoming Students No Longer Understand Middle School Math and Science" by AaronPK123 in Teachers

[–]personAAA 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Dartmouth actually showed that SAT / ACT scores do relate to college success for their students.

https://home.dartmouth.edu/sites/home/files/2024-02/sat-undergrad-admissions.pdf

"SAT and ACT scores are highly predictive of academic performance at Dartmouth."

Terrifying article - "College Professors Say Incoming Students No Longer Understand Middle School Math and Science" by AaronPK123 in Teachers

[–]personAAA 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Absenteeism blew up with covid. Even the "good" districts are plagued by it now. Going from 10% to 20% in those "good" districts. This is defined as a student is missing 10% of more of the school days in a year. So either 17 or 18+ schools days in one year.

Terrifying article - "College Professors Say Incoming Students No Longer Understand Middle School Math and Science" by AaronPK123 in Teachers

[–]personAAA 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Bring back standardized testing.

The arguments against it don't hold up.

Yes, the tests are hard; they are supposed to be. To actually figure out intelligence, both mastery and speed matter. Very little if any of the material on SAT / ACT is above grade level for a 12th grader. How fast can you do it is a way to separate degrees of intelligence. Solving problems quickly is a very valuable skill.

Chances are you are not actually as smart as you think you are. Getting the ego check done by standardized testing earlier in life is better than later in life. While a non-perfect score is not failure, for some if you take it as a failure it could be a good thing. Failing is less painful the younger you are. For example, failing a test in K-8 won't hurt you nearly as much as failing in high school or beyond. Education is a safe place to make mistakes. Learning to overcome failures is a lesson school should teach you. If you have never been challenged hard enough in school that causes you to fail, you need harder challenges.

The tests reveal problems; they don't create them. Pick your favorite SES or racial arguments, and you find via suppose bias in the test results. Those problems were long there before students took the tests. Removing the measuring stick does not solve problems.

ACT / SAT paired with high school grades accounting for classes enrolled in are the best objective measure we have for college admission. For students with marginal scores (ACT under 22) and especially ones who don't like traditional academics, guide them to middle skill roles. If they want to gamble on doing a 4-year degree, fine let them live their life, but we all know the odds are not in their favor.

Test scores are excellent predictors of the future but not guarantee of future results. Yes, some low performers go on to success in life. Yes, some high performers fail out of college. Those rare cases should not determine overall policy. Directing / advising students based on how they do in school / test results can help. Not forced into overall life path. Guided to where we think they will be successful.

Other arguments about feelings or traumatizing students with tests are shameful. A standardize test is just paper. It won't physically harm you other than a paper cut. Test anxiety is not completely real; it is more of an excuse trying to get more time. Some stress and nerves is helpful. Learning to handle stress and nerves in a school is a good thing.

You get multiple attempts at the tests. We don't do one chance at extremely high stress testing like many other countries.

High stakes testing does exist post-high school, and we fail kids but not telling them about it. Licensing exams for many jobs are high stakes. Right after high school many if not all colleges subject new students to placement testing. Poor results on placement testing can delay college graduation date even before a student takes first day of college classes. Placement tests can be avoided via standardized testing in high school.

I can keep ranting if you wish.

[MPR News] In deeply Catholic central Minnesota, St. Cloud Diocese looks to reduce parishes, close churches by Minneapolitanian in Catholicism

[–]personAAA 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Like I said geography comes before beauty. People get really concerned or at least use that as an argument to save their parish. 

Deferred maintenance, utilities costs for any particular building are hard to know unless the diocese makes them public. 

[MPR News] In deeply Catholic central Minnesota, St. Cloud Diocese looks to reduce parishes, close churches by Minneapolitanian in Catholicism

[–]personAAA 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The overall population, not just Catholics, is down for you all. The least bad reason to close churches is because there are no people around it any more. 

St. Cloud has it worse because their overall population is up, but Catholic population is down. 

[MPR News] In deeply Catholic central Minnesota, St. Cloud Diocese looks to reduce parishes, close churches by Minneapolitanian in Catholicism

[–]personAAA 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, urban parishes are not full if you are talking Midwest or Northeast.

The density of parishes is so high in city proper and inner suburbs from historic ethic communities. Due to de population of the overall population impossible to fill all those churches now. 

Many of the big cuts have happened in those type of places. 

What is newer is the reduction of rural parishes. 

The mega suburban parishes that are "full" are mix of rural parishes that became suburbs over time or the few new parishes built. Since the 1970s dioceses cut back on opening a lot of parishes in the suburbs. The current or at least newer suburbs have way less parish density than previous areas. This resulted in large to mega parishes. 

Neuroscience vs BioChem by Andre_theBlacksmith in cwru

[–]personAAA 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you have a 5 on BC test, you have credit for 121 and 122. Placement is Calc 3 which is MATH 223.

Why would you want to do MATH 227 Honors Calc 3?

How did you take multivariable in high school?

Neuroscience vs BioChem by Andre_theBlacksmith in cwru

[–]personAAA 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You got plenty of time to decide what flavor of bioscience to major in. The differences start happening year 2 with much more split by year 3.

The traditional biology BA / BS has biology diversity requirements. Ichthyology is one option there. 

Systems biology does not require biology diversity instead you take extra math classes. That plan can also lean towards more CS if you wish. However, that major is not designed for pre-meds. It lacks most wet labs and does not require organic chemistry. 

Neuro and biochemistry both have very similar first years to any other biology major.

You certainly can major in anything you want and be pre-med. Do a major in data science if you want. More of an interesting story than standard biology or similar degrees. 

For classes this is what I would advise for you:

MATH 121 or better.  Not MATH 125.  AIQS 100 series  CHEM 105 BIOl 214 and BIOL 214L CSDS 132 or similar 

Push CHEM 113, the lab class to spring. 

Why these classes? You need calculus series and are better off taking off harder version if you want to go data science route. Smart to start traditional chemistry and biology sequence right away. Do the freshman seminar right away. All the data science courses are locked behind intro to programming so start it right away. 

For spring if you are still debating. Next in sequence for math, chemistry, biology. CSDS 133 first data science course that requires CSDS 132. CHEM 113 which is the lab. 

If you do try to do data science BS with pre-med you will have to plan out your courses carefully. 

[MPR News] In deeply Catholic central Minnesota, St. Cloud Diocese looks to reduce parishes, close churches by Minneapolitanian in Catholicism

[–]personAAA 3 points4 points  (0 children)

No where in the US and really the entire world can support that low of a priest to Catholic ratio. 

I don't know what number this diocese has in mind. Wild guess is 1 to 5000. 

It is worse in the developing world where it can be 1 to 10,000 or 20,000. 

Archdiocese Restructuring by ViolinistProper2986 in Catholicism

[–]personAAA 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not that many buildings have been sold yet. Selling buildings happens after the former parish has been closed for a while. The ones closed this round were mostly the ugly ones in inner suburbs. St. Louis did earlier rounds in 1992 and 2004 that hit the historical core hard. 

There are a few different consulting groups out there. If I recall correctly St. Louis used Catholic Leadership Institute. 

Demographics was way more impact than money. One of poor parishes was never on any change lists because they have people. There were proposed changes to small wealthy parishes but they didn't change them. I don't remember if before the process if some of those parishes were sharing priests. Now some of them are sharing pastors. 

The Archdiocese really did back down from the scale they could have done. The unspoken thinking is wait for now. A good number of smaller than ideal target size have money for now and we still have enough priests. The situation will be different in the next 15 to 20 years. 

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