Tennessee Caves In To Big Arithmetic

Sad news to report this morning, my fellow Math Skeptics. It seems we've lost Tennessee.

A state that was once one of the proud resistors of the mathematical agenda - ranking consistently near the bottom of nationwide math scores - is now clearly in the pocket of the Arithmetic Lobby.

A column in today's The Commercial Appeal by Kevin S. Huffman, Tennessee commissioner of education, shows just how high up the calculatory corruption goes:

On Thursday, Gov. Bill Haslam announced that Tennessee students scored higher in all subject areas and grade levels (in grades 3-8) on this year's Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program achievement test than they did in 2009-10. This represents a critical step forward in the ambitious reform plan Tennessee articulated a year ago in its winning application for federal Race to the Top funding.

The TCAP results were impressive, particularly in math where student success rates grew by seven percentage points over the previous year.

Shameful, isn't it?

Tennessee used to be one of the good ones, proudly resisting the scientifico-mathematico cabal. They used to put teachers on trial for daring teach math and science in math and science classes.

Now they're just another cog in the numero-governmental conspiracy machine.

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