Caught in the ACT

Although public schools like to trumpet their relevance, the education they deliver usually shows how out of touch they are. “Of the 1.5 million high school graduates who took the ACT during academic year 2008-2009, 33 percent were not ready for college-level English, 47 percent were not ready for college social science, 58 percent were not ready for College Algebra, and 72 percent were not ready for college Biology,” Cynthia B. Schmeiser, the president of the education division of ACT, Inc., told a Senate committee today. “Overall, only 23 percent were ready to enter college-level courses without remediation in any of the four subject areas.”

The beauty part is that, other than “social science,” colleges don’t really teach those subjects either. Unfortunately, they frequently come in handy after graduation.

Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia.

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