Mathematics hysteria long overdue
Disagreement persists inside and outside of the political arena over what books school children should be permitted to read, tied to classroom work, and over what books should be banned from their eyesight.
Censorship always will be a volatile discussion issue in what is touted as a free country.
For many adults, including parents and politicians, what education professionals think — including education professionals who have spent decades helping to educate children without others second-guessing — now doesn’t matter. Some people prefer to form their changes-need-to-be-made opinions based on unfounded concerns and hysteria about purported “efforts” to corrupt children when no such foul intentions are being perpetrated.
People need to be wary about what some people are alleging, when those people are not skilled or trained — and have no direct, confirmed knowledge — to form such conclusions.
Proclamations like “the sky is falling,” regarding education or anything else, need to be evaluated carefully before cementing oneself to spreading the news.
Unfortunately, too often a cautious response does not happen, and the fear is allowed to multiply — and multiply again, many times over.
Then again, stoking such fears is anyone’s free-speech right, until it reaches the point of inflicting real harm on others — in the case of reading, children who are trying to build a foundation of learning upon which they can be productive, informed adults.
Beyond the realm of reading, however, there is new concern about the subject of mathematics — and that evolving concern should be regarded seriously.
According to an article in the Dec. 5 edition of the Wall Street Journal, a closely watched international exam has produced the conclusion that American students’ math scores took a bigger hit from the pandemic than their peers overseas.
The exam in question is called the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS. It is touted as a broad math and science assessment.
The test is administered to fourth- and eighth-graders of the United States and dozens of other countries, the Journal reported.
Quoting from the Journal article, “U.S. fourth- and eighth-grade students’ math performance . . . fell in 2023 from 2019, the last time the test was administered. America’s rankings slipped relative to other countries.”
According to analysis performed by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, research has linked school closures to greater learning loss.
Unfortunately, the United States, during the pandemic, had a higher duration of at least partial school closures than many other countries, including all of Europe.
Nevertheless, at least one other big exam, this one of high-schoolers, released last year, suggested U.S. learning loss wasn’t worse than its peers.
Perhaps the key word is “suggested” since the word “confirmed” was not used.
Test scores predict economic success, not only for individual students but also, in a broad sense, nations.
“U.S. scores were no better than when the tests were first given in 1995,” the Journal said. “In math, the recent declines wiped out years of gains.”
“I would call these declines sharp, steep,” said Peggy Carr, commissioner of a statistical agency at the U.S. Department of Education, during a call with reporters about the test data.
She said the pandemic drops deepened slides that had already started.
“Something that we should be concerned about is that this isn’t just the impact of the pandemic,” she emphasized.
Some hysteria about low math scores seems to be overdue.