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Economist Peter St. Onge, Ph.D., said a growing share of American college students are entering higher education without basic math and reading skills, arguing that increased education spending has failed to improve academic performance and calling for expanded school choice and renewed academic standards.

In a recent commentary, St. Onge cited data from an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report and described what he views as a long-term decline in educational outcomes despite rising taxpayer investment in public schools.

“One in five college students now does math and reading at the level of a 10-year-old. A 10-year-old paying 150,000 to study systemic oppression from a 20-nine-year-old adjunct who lives in IKEA,” St. Onge said.

He continued by pointing to findings from the OECD.

“A new OECD report finds that almost one in five American college students are at primary school level, which is fascinating, considering public school spending doubled to nearly $18,000 per student,” he said.

According to St. Onge, standardized international assessments show academic performance moving in the opposite direction of education spending.

“Yet, according to gold standard PISA scores, K to 12 s are losing an entire grade level per generation. Budget goes up, education goes down. It’s blowing up since COVID,” he said.

St. Onge highlighted examples from major universities, beginning with the University of California, San Diego.

“At UC San Diego, the share of first-year students showing up with primary school math exploded thirtyfold in just five years. Interestingly, fully one in four of those math illiterates had received perfect math scores in high school. In case you wonder what they’re doing in school, it ain’t math,” he said.

He also cited reports from the University of California, Berkeley.

“At Berkeley, up to 30% of students in calculus show severe deficits, forcing professors to reteach the courses they allegedly already passed. That’s Berkeley, one of the top universities, also allegedly in the world,” St. Onge said.

Turning to Harvard University, he said faculty members have adjusted coursework because of student performance.

“Even at Harvard, professors say they’re shortening readings because students cannot handle complex prose or sustained attention,” he said.

St. Onge attributed the trend to what he described as changes in public education.

“So, how did we get here? Easy progressives captured government schools, turning them into indoctrination centers,” he said.

He also referenced research comparing political attitudes among students.

“One study found public school swings kids 20 points Democrat compared to private and religious schools,” St. Onge said.

He cited examples from Baltimore and Detroit to illustrate what he described as poor academic outcomes despite higher spending.

“The most progressive districts last year, 20-three Baltimore schools had precisely zero students proficient in math. Detroit, 90-6% of students lack proficiency in math. 90-5% cannot read. Note: Baltimore and Detroit spend a third more per student than the rest of the country,” he said.

According to St. Onge, colleges have responded by reducing reliance on standardized testing.

“Faced with quasi-illiterate high school grads, colleges have all but abolished standardized testing in favor of essays and soft assessments that let them sell degrees to the unprepared and let them dodge the Supreme Court ban on racial preferences. Can’t prove discrimination if there are no standards,” he said.

He added that standardized testing requirements have declined significantly.

“Almost nine in 10 universities now have discarded standardized test requirements like SAT or ACT, that’s up from half before the Supremes banned race,” St. Onge said.

St. Onge also argued that grade inflation has made transcripts less meaningful.

“This all leaves the last man standing for accountability in our trillion-dollar education Ponzi grades, which you’ll be shocked to know are now meaningless. The percent of high school graduates with A or A plus more than doubled in the past 10 years, hitting more than half, 50-4% of high school grads had straight A’s in math. Remember, one in five are at 10-year-old level,” he said.

He said the trend extends into higher education.

“Gets worse at college. At Yale, for example, also allegedly one of the best schools in the world, fully 70-9% of students get straight A’s. Meanwhile, professors are apparently unable to figure out what’s done by AI. One study of 500,000 grades found that since ChatGPT, the most AI doable courses like creative writing had a 30% jump in grades compared to the others,” St. Onge said.

Summarizing his assessment of the education system, St. Onge argued, “In short, the education system has become a trillion dollar counterfeiting, cranking out $150,000 college degrees and 250,000 worth of K to 12 that are nearly meaningless.”

He concluded by proposing policy changes that he believes would improve accountability and academic performance.

“So at Snake, brought to you by the Bitcoin Way. The solution for K to 12 is easy: give power back to parents instead of communist education unions. So vouchers, school choice, homeschooling, private and parochial schools that are allowed to set their own standards and curriculum, for universities may return to standardized testing and in-person proctored exams, so they can prove if they’re actually teaching anything,” St. Onge said.

He closed with a warning about the long-term implications for the country.

“America will not remain the top economy in the world if kids are being indoctrinated instead of educated. The unions and colleges will fight hard for them. This is existential. But if the system does not change, a no skills Gen Z will continue voting to burn it all down,” St. Onge said.

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