Slipsliding away

Math scores matter

The scariest news today is that math scores for children in the United States lag behind those of the rest of the world following the pandemic. This is after everyone’s children suffered from this experience. It is neither surprising nor particularly new data in the abstract, since we have been lagging the remainder of the educated world for decades in this crucial area. I am not exactly one to talk since I, like so many young women, saw both my interest and my knowledge in the field dwindle as high school ended. At my advanced stage in life, I can look back with relief that I no longer face it.

But, math matters a great deal for each and every one of us.

Math is at the heart of logic and analysis. Regardless of what else one wants to observe about the U.S. society in 2023, desperately lacking the ability to analyze far too often threatens our future because of options it forecloses for workers. Sure, some of the challenge is our penchant for conspiracy theories but too many of us have lost the tool of analysis. Math, ugly as it may be, is foundational for that.

I anticipate at least one faithful reader who will blame it on wokeness or the