More than five years after the dumbed down Common Core national standards were implemented across America, scores in mathematics and other subjects continue to plunge. According to the Condition of College and Career Readiness 2018 by the ACT, just 40 percent of high-school graduates tested were considered ready to succeed in a first-year college algebra class. Well over a third of graduating students did not meet the minimum benchmark in ANY subject.
The trend is also downward, the annual ACT report found. In 2012, 46 percent of students tested as ready for college work on the dumbed-down tests. Today, just two in five students are considered ready, with the numbers continuing to drop. “In addition, students’ average score on the ACT math test dropped to its lowest level in more than 20 years — down to 20.5 (on a scale of 1 to 36), continuing a slide from 21.1 in 2012 to 20.7 last year,” the organization noted.
“The negative trend in math readiness is a red flag for our country, given the growing importance of math and science skills in the increasingly tech-driven US and global job market,” ACT CEO Marten Roorda said in the report. “It is vital that we turn this trend around for the next generation and make sure students are learning the math skills they need for success in college and career.”
More students were also at the bottom of the pack, unprepared for anything in college. “A growing percentage of students are falling at the bottom of the preparedness scale.” the report found. “Thirty-five percent of 2018 graduates met none of the four ACT College Readiness Benchmarks, up from 31% in 2014 and from 33% last year. These students are likely to struggle in first-year college coursework in all four core subject areas.”
And keep in mind, standards in colleges nationwide are increasingly being dumbed down to accommodate the dumbed-down students coming out of the government’s dumbed-down high-schools.
The increasingly unprepared graduating students are not ready for work, either. “Just around a fourth (26%) of ACT-tested 2018 graduates likely have the foundational work readiness skills needed for more than nine out of 10 jobs recently profiled in ACT’s JobPro database,” the ACT researchers found.
Similar trends have been identified on the SAT. Unfortunately for Americans, though, the organization behind the SAT, the College Board, decided to dumb down the test — or “re-center” it, as they put it — on a regular basis. The reason: help conceal the ongoing decline in the cognitive abilities and education level of Americans.
In short, Americans are getting dumber, fast. They are becoming less literate, less able to do math, less knowledgeable about history, and on and on. And it’s not a coincidence or an accident. In fact, it is deliberate. This is a crime of monumental proportions. But it won’t stop until the American people make it stop.
