>

Conservatives keep saying the problem is the breakdown of the family, and they're almost right. The breakdown of the family correlates, but it doesn't cause low test scores. 
Low test scores, broken families, increased crime, and ballooning addiction rates are all the fault of stagnating wages, inequality, and poverty.
You can plot real wages on any graph and see the correlation. 
Conservatives are constantly trying to blame the effects of poverty for poverty. Thats what "broken windows" was all about. 
Broken windows didn't cause social decay, they were an effect of social decay caused by poverty!
The data is clear. As wages have stagnated, our society is slowly tearing apart at the seams. 
You want better test scores? You want lower addiction rates? You want solid families? 
We must radically change the material conditions our society is based on. Otherwise, we will forever be trying to fix the symptoms of social decay, instead of addressing the causes.
It took a while for people to demand action, as they were initially unaware that 23 is a larger number than zero. >

Yes, and is it zero each or in the aggregate among the 23, eh? >

Let's see what my calculator says: 0#23
Hmm... it says if I'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again. I think that means 5. >

Funny, my calculator doesn't have a hashtag button. >

So I guess Zoomers won’t use it. >

No, we’ll use the calculator when you let us use them >


Project Baltimore found three additional schools where zero students tested proficient in math, which we did not include in the list of 23. One of those schools is for incarcerated youth, and the other two are for students with disabilities. And it’s important to note, another 20 Baltimore City Schools had just one or two students test proficient in math.

So thats actually 26 with zero students, and 20 more with 1 or 2 able. 
That's roughly 30 students in 46 schools who can math all right >

You're hired to go teach math in Baltimore. >

Greeny is hereby pronounced Minister of Maryland Math so we shall call them MoMM >

I saw a lot of deficiencies last semester when I was observing a middle-school math class last year.  A lot of it was the after effects of COVID.  It was a 7th grade class, so the students had been online-only for a lot of their basics, especially working with fractions.
The AP kids were doing fine, they were the most engaged and likely had a decent environment to work in for online classes.
The mid-range kids struggled a little, but it wasn't too bad.  They definitely missed some stuff during online classes, but hadn't fallen behind too much.
The struggling kids though, that was hard to see.  They had clearly not retained much of anything from online learning.  Pass rate for DOL questions at the end of a lesson were around 30%.  That's per question.  I had to help one poor girl understand how to simplify 2/4.
Even worse, the classes were split into AP, Passing, and Failing classes.  But, the curriculum difference between the passing and failing classes wasn't notably different.  There just wasn't time in the day to reteach 2-3 years of elementary school arithmetic.  They just plodded ahead, with every lesson trying to build on lessons from a previous class that hadn't been understood.
I see similar problems with the younger students in university.  There's big chunks missing in their understanding, luckily most university courses kinda assume that they've got to start from scratch. (I'm lucky, I'm 35 and returning to college after retirement, so I've got the advantage of experience and an uninterrupted primary and secondary education)
I'm sure there's similar problems with other classes too, not just math.  We've got an entire generation coming up that has a significant gap in their education and they're going to struggle.