"Some kids are just dumb" is not good education policy

Yes, Freddie, I think UCSD students can do basic algebra

This student may or may not be able to learn advanced math. But she’s got no chance if we don’t bother teaching her. (Photo by Ariel Skelley/Getty Images)

When I write about the failure of our schools to teach kids basic math, education writer Freddie deBoer complains that I am ignoring the obvious fact that some children are simply not that smart and will never master advanced math. “Big-time proponents of quantitative assessment like Kelsey Piper here also can’t accept that academic ability is normally distributed and that there will always be a bottom 50%/25%/10% … [people like Piper] act like it’s a matter of crisis when that testing reveals the inevitable reality that some people just aren’t good at school,” he wrote in a recent comment in response to my UC San Diego innumeracy article.

When I write about the failure of our schools to teach our kids how to read, deBoer complains that I am ignoring the obvious fact that some children are simply not that smart and can never be expected to read.

If I say we should adopt high-quality curricula and train teachers on them, deBoer complains that I am “big mad that we haven’t just waved the magic wand and saved the kids, which she insists (again and again) is something we could just do, if only we had the will.” Never fear, deBoer knows better: “Not all students are equally talented, and this can never change.”