So when a freshman college student tells me that he was always good at math, it translates to “I was very good at following obscure steps to manipulate mysterious symbols, without any real understanding of what I was doing.” ~ You Never Did Math in High School
It’s not just math.
So many Americans go through the motions of learning because the tendency is increasingly towards preparing people for trades—not for imparting a true education.
True education stems from curiosity and questions and understanding—not from standards and marks and degrees. But our corporate overlords seek the latter, and that’s what they’re getting.