Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

Everyone knows that the quality of education in our public schools is declining. We continue to fall behind the rest of the world, and this is particularly true in science and in math. Personally, I am a product of the public schools. I attended public schools all the way through high school, and I earned three degrees at public universities. And I have to admit that the quality of the education that I received was terrible. If I had not spent a great deal of time and effort educating myself, I would not be able to do what I do today. Sadly, things have gotten even worse in recent decades. Today, a large proportion of our young people are not even equipped to function on a very basic level in our society once they graduate from high school, and that has huge implications for the future of our country.

When I was growing up, kids would start learning algebra before they even got to high school.

But these days many of our college students can’t even handle algebra. In fact, the Kansas Board of Regents is actually considering dropping algebra as a requirement at the state’s six public universities because so many students are failing the basic algebra course…

The Kansas Board of Regents is considering stripping specific university math requirements after it was found that a significant percentage of college freshmen fail algebra, NPR affiliate KCUR reported.

The Regents, who oversee the system’s six public universities, are considering implementing the Math Pathways approach which matches students to a math course based on their major instead of mandating algebra for all incoming students. While many universities require that all freshmen pass algebra as a prerequisite for graduation, one in three Kansas students reportedly fail the course, which could delay a student’s graduation.

Are they serious?

Apparently they are. One academic official in Kansas insists that for a majority of the students in the system algebra is simply “not relevant for their fields”…

“We’re sending the majority of students down the college algebra road, which is really not necessary,” said Daniel Archer, vice president of academic affairs for the Kansas Board of Regents. “It’s not practical. It’s not really needed. And it’s not relevant for their fields.”

I have an idea.

Instead of having our college students deal with hard stuff like quadratic equations, perhaps we can just design a course where they just watch videos of Count von Count from Sesame Street count things.

In the years ahead, we will have lots of young people that don’t understand math and science, but at least they will be well versed in the intricacies of modern pronoun usage.

Needless to say, many of them will have to be supported by the government because they won’t be of much use to society.