Colleges across the country are grappling with the same problem as academic setbacks from the pandemic follow students to campus. At many universities, engineering and biology majors are struggling to grasp fractions and exponents. More students are being placed into pre-college math, starting a semester or more behind for their majors, even if they get credit for the lower-level classes.
Colleges largely blame the disruptions of the pandemic, which had an outsize impact on math. Reading scores on the national test known as NAEP plummeted, but math scores fell further, by margins not seen in decades of testing. Other studies find that recovery has been slow.
Let’s try with a real life (but slightly simplified) math example taken from my mostly innumerate coworkers.
Problem:
2.5 + 2.5 = ?
Many will answer “5”
My coworkers won’t type 4 extra keystrokes into their calculator, so they follow the written rounding rules (which shouldn’t apply here) and key in 3 + 3 = 6. Six. It’s six every time.
And they will argue it to the fucking death.
This is the depth of the problem. They have the tools to avoid doing math “in their head” and use their amazing modern tools but no conceptual understanding of the fundamental principles that will bring them from “2.5 is the same as 3 because I learned rounding!” to “there’s a fundamental difference between 2.5 and 3 if you’re trying to add them.” They just never came to that breakthrough understanding because no one taught them.
Sounds like a very specific case that I don’t see in the real world.
Not saying it doesn’t happen, but just because it happened to you doesn’t mean it’s a widespread problem.
Everyone I know, especially in a work setting, wouldn’t ‘round because they don’t want to type.’ Lol. That sounds like a shitty employee who has bigger problems than math.