This
upscale progressive magazine ran a super-long, super-detailed article
titled "The Math Revolution." It basically wanted to
proclaim the happy news that extraordinary things are taking place in
American education.
The
Atlantic fell all over itself with enthusiasm. You would reasonably
suppose that some fresh winds were blowing, and students in America would
actually know how to add and subtract with competence, and maybe even multiply
and divide efficiently.
What
else does the word "revolution" suggest but wonderful sweeping
change? At last, at long last, our public schools will redeem themselves
and began to turn out little math experts.
Then the writer gave it away: "The
students are being produced by a new pedagogical ecosystem – almost entirely
extracurricular – that has developed online and in the country's rich coastal
cities and tech meccas."
Ooh.
Please savor the words "almost
entirely extracurricular." In other words, these superior,
successful math students are not in essence attending American public schools.
They are going outside of American public schools, to something separate,
uncontaminated, and therefore superior.
And
why would that be necessary?......
