And this is the problem. There are way too many underwater basketweavers in education and they run the show. People teaching math in middle schools aren't often even certified in math.
And there are no lower standards in all of academia than primary school education. Not even sociology or even women's studies.
I know plenty of people on this thread say that they can't add fractions, but they aren't the chief educator of a major teacher's union. Every elementary school teacher is supposed to teach fractions. What is your kid enduring if his teacher has this level of knowledge?
She's not an educator. She's a union official.
The fact that they can't add the fractions is further evidence of the incompetence of the public school system.
"And there are no lower standards in all of academia than primary school education."
P.J. O'Rourke once said, "Anyone who doesn't know what's wrong with education must never have screwed an elementary-ed major."
What group enters college with the lowest SAT scores but graduate with the highest GPA?
Certification is a joke. It stands as a barrier to otherwise competent people who might provide competition to the "certified ones." I'm not "certified" in math, but I can assure you that no "certified" math teacher scored higher on his/her Math SAT than I did, and most of them probably didn't come within 200 points of my score on the "Advanced Math" (As it was called in the 60s) test. Am I looking for a teaching job? No. But it might be nice to be able to teach for a couple of hours a day when I retire. The current system makes that almost impossible.
ML/NJ