I agree. I think the GRE math section is a joke. The SAT and ACT math sections, I thought, were somewhat challenging for my middle school son (who took SAT in 7th grade and ACT in 8th grade) because he has only taken a limited number of high school math courses, but he ended up scoring really high. This made me even more dismayed that the average score of college bound high-school graduates is so low. It really tells how weak the K-12 math education is.
Same goes for reading, actually. The dismal national average score of SAT and ACT really has no excuse.
I also agree with someone else earlier in this thread who mentioned the question "why should all kids be college ready?". I think the society cares too much about a diploma instead of what a person is really capable of doing. The high school curriculum, in my mind, is so watered-down these days, we are simply sending kids to college to learn a lot of the stuff that they should have learned in high school for free!
I was a college professor in a big urban university befor emy current job. I am in a fairly quantitive field. I always said that I did not need my students to have had calculus in high school but they need to have had a solid background in algebra. Taking calculus as a freshman with a solid background in algebra won't set back the kids. But not solid on algebra is hard to remediate. Of course, none of this applies to a gifted child who is capable of an accelerated curriculum. I am just responding to what was said in the post I quoted.
I think that is why I hang out here even though my son is only 5. What I saw in my students scared me. I am trying to make sure that his education needs are served well. And I learn a lot from all of your experiences with your kids.
