Unintended consequence? Really? California schools stink.

Back in 2020, the State of California no longer required the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) or any alternatives for students to get into California’s government-run, tax-funded universities and colleges.

Just before Christmas, the Wall Street Journal tells us, “Now arrives the dispiriting result: Many freshmen at one of its top public universities can’t do middle-school math.”

Oh, dear. The WSJ is talking about the University of California at San Diego, supposedly one of the top six universities in the Fifty States. (We very much have our doubts about that claim, here at TPOL.) And it is not “that bad” according to a very recent Forbes report. Only one in eight freshmen lack high school math skills. That means that 87.5% of freshmen DO have “high school math skills.” (We calculated that in our head, but then, we went to trade schools; one ag and one engineering.)

In just five years, the number of freshmen “below the high school level” increased nearly thirtyfold. (Assuming that the MSM writers can do math, that means that only about one in 240 incoming students could not do it. But what is not discussed is how ridiculously low California’s standards for high school math are: only two math classes are required to get a diploma: and only one has to be “equivalent” to Algebra I. Apparently, the other class can be a remedial class to overcome deficiencies in learning grade school and middle school math. That, in our opinion, is an incredibly low standard.

In other words, a HS graduate in California, might be able to balance a checkbook (not that many people do that anymore). But they probably can’t understand how the interest rates on their credit card or their rent-to-own contract at the local appliance store are calculated. And maybe not even read the monthly statement (assuming that they bother to try).

Even so, WSJ and Forbes report that many of those 1 in 8 are “performing below” middle school standards. We aren’t sure just what that means, but we suspect that they may not even be able to use a four-banger pocket calculator. And yet, under California law and rules, they are admitted to one of the top universities in all Fifty States?

We are led to believe that the reasons for this ending of the SAT was because the idiots (read, legislature) in Sacramento were concerned about equity and bias against low-income, minority, and disabled (“other-abled”) students. Oh, and because of a lawsuit settlement. There was fear that disabled students couldn’t have access to testing centers during the Beer Flu pandemic panic. (Oddly enough, Forbes and others say that the poor math skills are due to the pandemic panic. Funny, huh?) It was claimed that high school grades were a better predictor of success in college than SAT or ACT test scores.

Except, as even Heinlein pointed out more than half a century ago (Have Spacesuit, Will Travel), the quality of high school classes and their value has declined rapidly as well: we don’t have underwater basketweaving courses nowadays (or do we? Anyone know?). But we do have a lot of frivolous classes, including many claiming to be suitable electives in serious subjects like English literature or social studies. Studying the history of comic books, important as they have been to understanding society, is hardly a suitable replacement for a study of American Literature. Substituting a class on the historical contributions of left-handed homosexuals does not replace a class or courses on the history of Western Civilization.

But the real crime, at least morally? It is the watering down of courses. It is the inclusion of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity. (DIE: DEI is not as accurate an acronym.) It is not teaching that arithmetic is a form of racism. It is not replacing Algebra I with a rehash of what can be done on a four-banger calculator. Or even how to use a calculator! It is adding comic books to the reading list for American literature.

It is also reducing classroom and serious field study time to replace it with sports, special celebrations, and neat appearances by celebrities and politicians. Nor is it having teacher “in-service” days twice every six weeks to “help them be better teachers.” We submit the old adage: practice makes perfect.

All of this is not unique to California, of course. It is found across American schools. And not just in the government-run, tax-funded schools.

Nor is it limited to primary and secondary schools: the rot exists and is spreading in higher education. Both public and private. Not only is the quality of the education dragged down by the lack of qualifications of the students. It is dragged down by the quality of the instructors, the content of the courses, and demands of politicians and other parasites.

Too many other States are following California’s path to destruction not just of higher education but of society. Of culture and economy. And of liberty.

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