DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: Why is my A student failing algebra?
Adriana Aviles’ son was an A student in math in New York City K-8 schools, she tells David Spector of the New York Post. He got into a top high school. But her honor-roll student is failing algebra.
She tried to help him study. “He stared blankly at the page, completely puzzled by the material. He was completely thrown off by equations that contained fractions.” He scored a 10 out of 100 on the test.
Her son now spends four lunch periods a week getting math tutoring to learn the skills he didn’t learn in elementary school. Aviles bought “math review books intended for first- through fourth-graders so I can see how much he actually knows, and in which grade he stopped learning.”
If you think that’s bad, wait’ll you see what’s happened to high school vocab:
I am speechless. Thomas Aquinas College just dropped a study on the rigor of the new SAT.
It compares the 1980/87 test with 2026. The findings should terrify every parent and teacher…
Vocabulary has collapsed.
Old SAT: 70.6% of questions tested vocab.
New SAT: 15%.The old… https://t.co/wBknccE4aV pic.twitter.com/9hEVGh5KTH
— Jeremy Wayne Tate (@JeremyTate41) October 29, 2026
“If you believe that kids should develop rigorous vocabulary, be capable of sustained reading, and possess background knowledge, I have bad news for you. The SAT no longer measures these.”