“Childhood and Education #18: Do The Math” by Zvi

We did reading yesterday. Now we do the math. Math is hard.

It does not have to be this hard.

A large part of the reason math is hard, or boring, is that education studies, especially in math, are worse than you know. It goes beyond the studies failing both math and statistics forever and into what I’d basically call fraud. Various people are at war with math education, and will do what it takes to stop it in its tracks. We must fight back.

Education Research Is Worse Than You Know

Kelsey Piper lets her title, ‘Education research is weak and sloppy. Why?’ completely downplay the level of utter awfulness she is reporting finding.

You know that whole thing where the entire Bay Area school system stopped teaching kids Algebra? That was motivated by criminal levels of fraud. I want Jo Boaler in jail doing hard time for this if it is accurate.

Here's the part before the paywall:

Kelsey Piper: Jo Boaler is a professor of education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, with an enormously influential body of work arguing that students learn math faster and more effectively [...]

---

Outline:

(00:42) Education Research Is Worse Than You Know

(04:23) The War on Math

(06:59) University of California San Diego

(15:01) Beyond UCSD

(15:57) New York Cant Do Math

(16:43) The Academic Standards Seem Low

(19:34) New Math

(21:32) Math Anxiety Is Often Due To Knowledge Gaps

(23:52) Calculus By Eighth Grade Is Highly Practical For Many

---

First published:
May 12th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ZGGgxy6SNPAy9Hj7v/childhood-and-education-18-do-the-math

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---