A recent UC San Diego study found that between 2020 and 2025, the number of freshmen with math skills BELOW MIDDLE-SCHOOL LEVEL “increased nearly thirtyfold.” Roughly one in eight students were unable to handle even the most basic high school math.
UCSD has had to add a new course devoted exclusively to teaching “elementary and middle school Common Core math (grades 1-8)” — in addition to the remedial math classes it already had in place covering high school topics like algebra and geometry.
Ford CEO Jim Farley revealed this week that the company has 5,000 vacant mechanic positions — jobs that pay twice the salary of the average American — but they are unable to find qualified applicants.
Today’s auto technicians work with computer software, advanced sensors, high-voltage systems, and digital schematics. Servicing an electric vehicle requires interpreting data flows, troubleshooting electronics, and following precise, multistep instructions. That demands literacy, math, and the ability to solve complex problems.
Workers who struggle to read grade-level text cannot read complicated technical manuals or diagnostic instructions. If they can’t handle middle-school math, they can’t program high-tech machines or robotics, or operate the automated equipment found in modern factories and repair shops.
The problem is, America’s K–12 system is no more capable of producing a workforce that is career-ready than it is at producing a generation that’s college-ready.
America does not lack good jobs. It lacks a K–12 system capable of preparing students to seize them. This is an embarrassment and a travesty. Teachers Unions must be held accountable and things need to change.