Most kids aren't stupid; they simply lack the right environment and the right teacher(s) to help them succeed. The PISA is an international assessment of 15-year-olds. The 2022 results showed that math scores were lower than they were in 2012. Reading and science scores were slightly down from 2018 but remained higher than they were in 2012. Much of this decline has to do with the pandemic and the shift to at-home learning. To put it plainly, the pandemic really f*cked people up, especially our nation's kids. When you take that into account, along with the fact that some school districts have essentially become grade and diploma mills, you have an environment where excellence is no longer at the forefront.
Before you can even do math you must be able to read
Take a word problem. Before anyone multiplies or divides, they have to work out what’s being asked, what they’ve been handed, and what’s just noise. Get the premise of the question wrong and the cleanest arithmetic in the world won’t save you. Studies keep finding that reading ability predicts math scores about as well as you’d expect math ability to, which surprises people until they think about how many test questions are really paragraphs.
It doesn’t stop in school. Scientists spend a surprising share of their working lives reading: papers, protocols, methods sections that someone else wrote in a hurry. One missed “unless” or “at least” can flip a result. Engineers deal with specs and safety standards where a misread line isn’t a bad quiz grade, it’s a bridge or a pressure valve failing. Anyone who has written code professionally or for fun knows that most of the job is reading, whether that’s documentation, someone else’s old functions, or an error message that says exactly what’s wrong.
Even working a fast-food job at McDonald's requires the ability to read. You have to read the menu, onboarding instructions, directions from your manager, and much more. Reading is the foundation of learning. If you cannot read, your ability to learn is severely limited. That is why reading at grade level as you progress through school is so important. If you cannot read, you cannot effectively learn; if you cannot learn, you cannot develop the skills and knowledge needed to become competent and employable.
Importance of STEM in the 21 century
Not every student needs to become an engineer, but every country needs enough engineers, scientists, mathematicians, and technically competent workers to remain economically competitive. If a country outsources too much of its technical expertise, it eventually becomes dependent on other countries for critical capabilities. Keeping certain technologies, intellectual property, and critical capabilities in-house matters. I am not suggesting that we stop allowing foreign students to come here to study. I am suggesting that we do a better job of showing our own students the opportunities available to them through a STEM education. Growing up, I think my teachers and schools could have done a much better job of showing me the possibilities that exist within STEM and how those skills can translate into business opportunities. For example, a talented engineer can take their technical knowledge and professional experience and eventually start their own cybersecurity firm, advanced manufacturing company, or technology business. As Jerry Maguire famously said, "Show me the money!" We need to show students not only what they can learn through STEM, but also the real-world opportunities, earning potential, and entrepreneurial possibilities that come with it.
Conclusion
Our kids aren’t broken or stupid. In too many communities, they’re underserved. The pandemic set many of them back, and some schools have settled for graduating students rather than doing the hard work of educating them. Neither problem is permanent though. Both can be fixed with better teaching, higher expectations, and a renewed focus on the basics: reading, writing, and arithmetic. I was fortunate to receive a quality education. I know however that not every child gets that chance. If I am ever successful, one of the things I plan to do with that success is promote good-quality education. I believe everyone, regardless of socioeconomic circumstances, deserves access to one.
If you're looking to make a donation this holiday season, I recommend supporting Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. The program provides free books each month to children from birth through age five. Every child deserves the opportunity to discover the joy of reading.
You can learn more or make a donation here: https://donate.imaginationlibrary.com/
