Struggle Sessions, Math & Miscalculations - Top 3 Takeaways

Struggle Sessions, Math & Miscalculations - Top 3 Takeaways – May 10th, 2022 

1. It’s not 2+2 and let’s have a struggle session over that. That recent quote from Governor DeSantis in explaining why it was that 41% of the state’s public school math books were flagged as being inappropriate, is a) an instant classic and b) instructive for where the train has gone off the tracks in education in our society. The full quote from DeSantis was this: Take the nonsense out of the math books. It’s not 2+2 and let’s have a struggle session over that. Lost in the debate over Florida’s woke math books has been the point about why we have them in the first place. For kids to actually learn math. That’s something the US hasn’t exactly done well in a long time. Since we’re talking math, what percentage of students do you think are proficient for their grade level at math? If you guessed 38%, you’d be correct. And you might ask yourself, if only 38% of students are proficient at math, shouldn’t the focus be on the teaching and learning of math as opposed to say social issues in math class? And here’s some math that even those seeking mathematics struggle sessions can understand. In 1980, the US ranked second in the world in math proficiency. By 2000, we’d fallen to 18th. Most recently we’re 40th – yes 40th in math proficiency. And what’s changed in 40+ years? In 1980, 2+2 was four. By 2000, suggesting 2+2 equaled five could net you partial credit if you wrote the problem out correctly. Today 2+2 could be anything you want it to be because suggesting there’s a correct answer, defined rights and wrongs, could be perceived to be exclusionary – hence the struggle session thing.  
2. A lot has changed in society over the past forty years. Math hasn’t. There are defined right and wrong answers. There’s no such thing as partial credit in the real world. All we‘ve done with the feel-good mumbo jumbo is set future generations of kids up to get their butts kicked by reality once they’re faced with it. We have decades of evidence which shows focusing on anything other than arriving at correct answers doesn’t work. Let’s not have a struggle session over those facts. And since math hasn’t changed since 1980, how about we just go back to what worked in 1980? This isn’t complicated.  
3. The Abortion debate isn’t playing well for Democrats. The theme of my top takeaways last Thursday was political miscalculations. And as I stated... Conventional political wisdom commonly expressed by people on both sides, suggested this was exactly the single-issue rallying cry that would suddenly reshape Congressional races. While I have little doubt that may be the case in contested Democrat primaries, where Democrats will now shift from trying to prove their gender is more fluid than the other candidates (or something like that), to being the candidate most in favor of whacking as many babies in the womb as possible... I don’t think that conversation will resonate generally the way many perceive that it will. And if Democrats think most Americans will say screw it to 41-year high inflation and an impending recession, along with a border crisis an energy crisis, geopolitical crises all in the name of abortions on demand? They’re not only on the wrong side of science. They’re living in an altered state of reality. Well, sure enough Democrats are indeed attempting to prove they’re willing to whack as many babies in the womb as possible, as they’re preparing legislation for tomorrow that would literally legalize abortions up to the very moment before birth. This illustrates two points; the average Congressional Democrat is indeed a sick disgusting whack job that’s attempting to legalize something that today, you’d be charged with murder for doing and... They’re falling for the political miscalculation. Since news of this issue hit there’s been one pollster which has conducted a poll with a sample that was completely taken after news of the SCOTUS leak hit. CNN’s. And what did CNN’s sample say? Voters favored Republicans on the generic ballot by seven points over Democrats. That was up from a one-point advantage in the CNN poll from just the week prior. It’s but one poll, but it’s CNN’s and its telling that Republicans are six-points better off today with voters than before the leak. Make of that what you will, but it’s the first tangible evidence of the political miscalculation I was talking about. The abortion debate already isn’t playing well for Democrats and attempting to pass legislation that extends abortion access from the 24-week standard set by the Supreme Court in 1973, up to the moment of birth, most certainly won’t make it better. According to the Pew Research Center only 19% of the population thinks that’s acceptable.