Repost: Someone has to run the fabs - by Noah Smith

Egalitarianism is important but we neglect STEM education at our peril

In 2014, the city of San Francisco decided to try to improve equity in math education by barring kids from taking algebra in 8th grade. The results were highly disappointing — Black and Latino kids’ math skills did not improve, and the achievement gap widened, thanks to richer White and Asian families hiring private tutors to teach their kids algebra. This incident — whose results are sad but entirely predictable — highlights how some Americans think we can increase equity in math education by simply teaching less math. But this doesn’t make the world more equal — rich kids have the private…

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