“The reason—back in the day fifth grade was where you were expected to master fractions.”
Fractions are the first step into the abstract. 85 IQ is incapable of abstract thinking. Absolutely incapable.
3/5 x 1/4? 2/3 divided by 1/2? Even least common denominator is beyond their cognitive capacity.
Some you can teach a rote formula to. But they never understand.
FYI: I witnessed a full semester of 5th grade teaching when things were all remote.
The stupid of children of color is sobering. And scary.
Yeah, there’s stupid white and Asian kids. But they are a small minority. They are a large majority of kids of color.
Good luck with these kids working at a place serving pie. "I'll have 2/3rds of that pie." Gets a puzzled look "Huh?". Total price is $15.25, and you pay with a $20 bill and a quarter coin. Gets a puzzled look "Huh?". Can't make proper change. Young workers are so stupid now.
Fractions are the first step into the abstract...
Nowadays, concepts are introduced, but only rarely mastered. I’ve subbed in 2nd grade classes were the math lesson was introducing fractions to children who could not successfully add. Maybe 20 % of 8th graders actually can do simple multiplication without the aid of a calculator (I may be overestimating the %). They are never forced to learn their times tables. Imagine dealing with lowest common denominator or greatest common factor without having times tables in your head
I am not talking about an inner city school, but a school that is at least 90% white A method of teaching math that was successful for more than a century was abandoned in favor of methods that consistency yield much poorer results.