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Reader comment on:
Inconvenient Truth At School

Submitted by Rob Rasmussen, Feb 14, 2007 13:55

It is very difficult to say that the drop in performance was mostly due to a weaker high school education of the students. In fact, I argue that the drop may be due to a non-uniform sample of the college students. As opposed to 1989, many more schools are offering AP courses where students are able to take Calculus in high school. With a grade of 4-5 out of 5 on the AP test, students are allowed to skip past Calculus I and II. Subsequently, it is the students who do not have the strong mathematics background that are taking Calc I in college. The disproportianate number of students with poor math skills currently taking Calc I courses in colleges now versus 17 years ago likely led to the observed drop in performance. In fact, high schools should be celebrated for the AP courses they offer students versus admonished for what this article proclaims as a sign of diminishing education.

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Other reader comments on this article

Comment	By	Date
None of what Wolf is saying is news to me. I'm getting tired of reading articles like this, which describe... [MORE]	Robert F	Feb 14, 2007 18:13
It is very difficult to say that the drop in performance was mostly due to a weaker high school education...	Rob Rasmussen	Feb 14, 2007 13:55
If you want your race horse to win, you don't feed it fast food and beverages with artificial sugar. instead... [MORE]	Robert M. Stockmann	Feb 11, 2007 01:24
The article illustrates another reason why the United States will soon be another third rate, third world nation. I don't... [MORE]	Howard Lee	Feb 10, 2007 02:21
The reality about our education system is that it is in disrepair. Yes, there is a precipitous decline in test... [MORE]	Maury Leon	Feb 9, 2007 17:55
I am a retired high school mathematics teacher. I spent twenty years at Prospect Heights High School, which is now... [MORE]	David Simonoff	Feb 9, 2007 16:14
I find it astonishing that there is such surprise generated by the findings of Professor Wilson's study. Given such apparent... [MORE]	Terri	Feb 9, 2007 15:46
Unbelievably, no one has ever scientifically tested Maria Montessori's 1912 contention that if kindergartners get sufficient practice printing alphabet letters,... [MORE]	Robert Rose, MD (retired)	Feb 9, 2007 15:31
Our once proud school system here in St. Louis is so rotten, the state is on the verge of taking... [MORE]	Denis Roach	Feb 9, 2007 09:31
I am the superintendent of a school district in South-Central Texas. We have been watching this for years. The pressure... [MORE]	Cathy Booth	Feb 9, 2007 15:04