THE MORNING RANT: Regarding Harvard and Its “Introductory” Math Course for its Students Who Can’t do 9th Grade Math

There is a story that has suddenly gained a lot of media traction, especially in conservative corners of the internet. Specifically, the story is about Harvard introducing a remedial math course for its students who arrive with “a lack of foundational algebra skills,” to use the language from a Harvard Crimson article titled “Harvard Launches New Intro Math Course to Address Pandemic Learning Loss”

Among the outlets running stories in recent days are:

Powerlineblog: “Harvard Students Can’t Do Math”

Real Clear Education: “Harvard Launches New Remedial Math Course”

and even The Times of India: “3% Admission Rate? Why Harvard’s New Introductory Math Course is Under Fire”

Investor Elad Gil has had hundreds of thousands of views of this tweet, which takes aim at Harvard for rejecting 97% of applicants for enrollment, while still needing to teach an introductory math class to some of the 3% who make the cut:

The Harvard Crimson article that everyone is referencing is actually from last September, at which time I offered up some thoughts here at Ace of Spades about Harvard needing to teach 9th grade math to its incoming students. Our friend Mike LaChance at Legal Insurrection also gave some coverage to the story, but other than that, it didn’t really gain traction in conservative media.

I’m not sure why this story is finally getting some exposure, but because: 1) I’ve already written about this; and 2) I only have time for a quick post today, I am going to re-publish my piece from last September.

Below the fold is my original post from 9/13/2024:

Harvard has launched an “Introductory” math course for students who don’t belong at Harvard.

Actually, “students who don’t belong at Harvard” isn’t really fair, because whatever Harvard might have once been, there is nothing “elite” about those who get admitted to Harvard any longer - neither intellectually nor in character. With a student body heavily composed of privileged nepots whose parents purchased their enrollment, affirmative action admits, and Jew-hating foreigners, Harvard is more odious than elite these days.

So it’s not surprising that Harvard is having to introduce remedial math classes to bring its very special student body up to par with the proficiency level expected of 9th graders in a typical American suburb.

“Harvard Launches New Intro Math Course to Address Pandemic Learning Loss” [The Harvard Crimson – 9/02/2024]

The Harvard Math Department will pilot a new introductory course aimed at rectifying a lack of foundational algebra skills among students, according to Harvard’s Director of Introductory Math, Brendan A. Kelly.

He said the Covid-19 pandemic led to gaps in students’ math skills and learning abilities, prompting the need for a new introductory course.

Many thousands of students not accepted into “elite” Ivy League schools are heading off to college without the need for remedial math tutoring. I don’t know for a fact that every student admitted to a Kennesaw State or a Western Kentucky is smarter than the typical Harvard enrollee, but I do know that if I hire a Kennesaw State grad, I won’t likely be dealing with a toxic combination of ignorance, arrogance, and entitlement.

These Harvard students - despite their incapacity for college-level work - will likely graduate with straight-A grades, since that is pretty much the only grade that Harvard gives out.

But back to The Crimson’s article about remedial math tutoring at Harvard…

“The last two years, we saw students who were in Math MA and faced a challenge that was unreasonable given the supports we had in the course. So we wanted to think about, ‘How can we create a course that really helps students step up to their aspirations?’” he said.

“…step up to their aspirations”?? How can we protect the rest of us from credentialed mediocrities being awarded Harvard degrees and imposing their “aspirations” on us?

With their Harvard degrees, these “prestigious Ivy League graduates” will likely be going into “public policy” positions, despite their inability to do the math that I was doing in 8th grade, and that used to be expected of most 9th graders. Therefore, it is reasonable to doubt their capacity to handle municipal budgets, or understand tax law, or comprehend the math required for bond issues, etc. There are abundant roles in the workplace for those who cannot handle high-school level math, but elite-level policy positions should be out of their reach. A “participation trophy” degree from Harvard doesn’t make them any smarter.

In addition, there are any number of community colleges that can help these students learn high school-level math – if they have the aptitude for it – but the fact that Harvard has such an abundance of unqualified admits that it must provide remedial math courses is a reminder of how meaningless a Harvard degree is.

To be safe, I am just going to assume that every Harvard enrollee is a special admit that is incapable of handling a college level curriculum without special hand-holding.

“Students don’t have the skills that we had intended downstream in the curriculum, and so it creates different trajectories in students’ math abilities,” Kelly added.

“Different trajectories in students’ math abilities…” Well done, Harvard! The word “remedial” has now officially been deemed offensive and forced through the euphemism treadmill, getting replaced by “different trajectory.”

He said the department “investigated a number of different strategies” used by different schools when assessing how to address students’ skill gaps.

Testing a student’s math proficiency – or “skill gap” - is actually quite simple. You give the student a math test at expected grade level. But our best and brightest at Ivy League universities are instead “investigating a number of different strategies used by different schools.” Harvard is beyond parody.

It’s not my intent to mock those whose education suffered during the imposition of Covid sharia. (My intent is to mock Harvard.) The school closures and the refusal of so many teachers across the country to do their jobs during that social panic certainly had a negative impact on many students who did want to learn. There are many avenues for those students to still obtain high school level math skills and move forward with their educations. But if Harvard is doing the work of community colleges, then Harvard deserves to be mocked.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

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