DYSPEPSIA GENERATION

We have seen the future, and it sucks.

Education and IQ

1st June 2009

Jerry Pournelle looks at certain controversial issues.

A major problem in education is that half of the children are below average. As an example, here is a question from a national test for 8th graders. The example is from page 56 in Charles Murray, REAL EDUCATION.

There were 90 employees in a company last year. This year the number of employees increased by 10%. How many employees are in the company this year?

(A) 9    (B) 82   (C) 91   (D) 99    (E) 100

As Charles Murray notes, anyone who reads this web site (or reads to page 56 of his book) would expect “that almost everyone should be able to handle a question like this. Children are taught to divide and calculate percentages in elementary school. Dividing by ten is the easiest form of division… It is a problem based on a simple mathematical concept, using simple arithmetic, requiring a simple logical interpolation to get the right answer. It is an excellent example for starting to think about what below average means in mathematics — because 62% of eight-graders got this item wrong.”

It is unlikely that anyone who cannot correctly answer this question in 8th grade will be able successfully to complete a four year college education. Assume that’s wrong; assume that fully half those who couldn’t answer the question correctly in 8th grade were able to master Algebra in high school. I find that unlikely; but that’s still 30% of  the population who simply cannot complete a college-prep high school curriculum. My guess is that the number who can’t finish (or at least won’t benefit from) a real college-prep education is more like 80%.

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