slackerchews (u/slackerchews)

slackerchews commented on SFUSD's delay of algebra 1 has created a nightmare of workarounds sfexaminer.com/forum/put-... · Posted by u/hnburnsy

Jensson · 3 years ago

But those numbers are a lie, American whites scored 503, just look at the report page 34, it clearly says that white Americans scored 25 points higher than the average 478 at math. 478 + 25 = 503.

He must have taken the wrong graph.

Edit: Anyway, 503 is pretty average for Europeans, so it means that Americans are pretty average at math, as you'd expect for a large country. So it is still proof that Americans aren't bad, they are typical.

slackerchews · 3 years ago

I didn't lie... Page 16 of my OECD link shows that the average was 505 for 2018...

EDIT:: Nevermind I'm a dumbass. that graph is for reading and literacy.... guess I know how I'd score...

slackerchews commented on SFUSD's delay of algebra 1 has created a nightmare of workarounds sfexaminer.com/forum/put-... · Posted by u/hnburnsy

Jensson · 3 years ago

Those numbers doesn't add up, USA average was 478, how could whites that are a majority score all the way up at 531? There aren't enough black people to drag 531 down to 478, and only black people are below average here.

Edit: Yes, look at page 34 in that report, it says that white kids scored 25 higher than average, so 503. Where did you get those numbers from, those are wrong.

slackerchews · 3 years ago

Yeah I just looked at the two sources. Somethings up will add a disclaimer in my comment

slackerchews commented on SFUSD's delay of algebra 1 has created a nightmare of workarounds sfexaminer.com/forum/put-... · Posted by u/hnburnsy

culopatin · 3 years ago

Does anyone else feel weird about comparisons that match a subgroup of people in the US against whole continents? Why is it normal to smash all the countries of a continent into one? What “asian” or “European” student is making it into these standards? The ones with money to come to the US and be surveyed?

slackerchews · 3 years ago

I agree (and point out in my comment) that this is not a 1:1 comparison.

slackerchews commented on SFUSD's delay of algebra 1 has created a nightmare of workarounds sfexaminer.com/forum/put-... · Posted by u/hnburnsy

Tehdasi · 3 years ago

I'm sure in every educational system you can use some form of metric to exclude low SES students and conclude that the system isn't behind or failing.

slackerchews · 3 years ago

totally agree with you. was just pointing out a statistical quirk I thought added value to the discussion.

I'll even retract my point that the US maths education system isn't failing as a whole. When two demographics (30% of the country and growing) are being left behind by the system, then the system is failing as a whole. I really hope to see this change in the future.

slackerchews commented on SFUSD's delay of algebra 1 has created a nightmare of workarounds sfexaminer.com/forum/put-... · Posted by u/hnburnsy

pknomad · 3 years ago

It's absolutely mind-boggling that the administrators try to establish "equity" by pushing all students down, instead of them up. I suspect part of it is driven by the fact that it's cheaper and easier to meet metrics and/or look "socially engaged" by blocking students (when appropriate) from advancing. US is below the mean for average mathematical performance and this isn't helping. (https://data.oecd.org/pisa/mathematics-performance-pisa.htm)

On an anecdotal basis, I went to an elite university in the US (mostly based on luck I think because I was a mediocre student) and there was an implicit expectation was that students seriously pursuing STEM would be starting their curriculum with multivariable calc or linear algebra as a freshmen since the single variable calc requirement would have been knocked out AP/IB credits. I've seen many of my international cohorts going even beyond. I genuinely worry that school systems such as SFUSD is doing a great disservice to its students and the society.

slackerchews · 3 years ago

**DISCLAIMER: The numbers don't add up, someone's numbers are wrong see Jesson's child comment

>US is below the mean for average mathematical performance and this isn't helping.

This depends on whether or not you control for race [0]:

- Asian (556)

- White (531)

- Hispanic (481)

- Black (448)

- Mixed Race (501)

Despite the euroworship in this thread, White-American and Asian-American students outperform Europeans and Asians, respectively (although I don't have data that breaks down those countries' scores by race, so take this with a grain of salt). Quite interesting how people in this thread (whom I suspect are mostly white- and Asian- American males given the hours/site) are talking about how bad the US education system is and how their European friends were all learning Riemann sums in kindergarten.

The system is only failing black and hispanic students. Really tough problem to solve, but the data does not support the conclusion that the American maths education system is "behind" or "failing" as a whole. I would also like to see the scores stratified by income, which my linked paper did not provide.

[0]: https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/pisa2018/pdf/PISA2018_compi...

slackerchews commented on For the first time, the Fed is losing money wsj.com/articles/for-the-... · Posted by u/lxm

JumpCrisscross · 3 years ago

Nothingburger. It’s as valid to be concerned about these accounting losses as it would be to suggest that by removing a source of income from the Treasury it’s fighting inflation.

slackerchews · 3 years ago

hey, i dont know much about central banking/economics, but i feel like i know enough to know that I know nothing. it seems that this topic produces the lowest-quality, highest-confidence responses of any on this board.

You and a few others seem to be the only posters with an proper understanding of the topic. But I could be wrong - you may be as dumb as me.

Could you point me in the direction of some resources that can help me be literate in this topic? I have already read the BoE paper that gets passed around here.