Education: The most important, interconnected campaign issue.

An unwavering emphasis on science and mathematics teaching is imperative for financial literacy, marketable jobs skills, crime, and homelessness.

Of Math and Men: When I was 11, I started my first job as an afterschool math tutor at my public junior high school. My most vivid (and livid) memory of my minimum-wage, $4.25 hourly pay was the Social Security tax that was deducted from it. Percentages and principal-interest calculations were no longer just for word problems; they were now real-world problems. Because I loved mathematics and physics so much, my dream job was becoming a mechanical engineer who would design — and personally test — roller coasters. My father, a general contractor, snuffed out that dream by telling me that a computer would do those design calculations 20x faster than me by the time I reached adulthood. He was correct, and he nudged me in the direction of medicine; these days, I still indulge my love of math with my biostatistical research and my love of physics with a yearly trip to Magic Mountain to ride coasters.

A penny saved is a penny earned: When I was in college at UCLA, I saw a middle-eastern woman pull up at a Westwood gas station in a shiny 7-series BMW and start filling her tank while her child went to buy a soft drink. After he lost his quarters to the vending machine, his mother complained in a thick accent to the attendant until she got her money back. She reminded me of my mother. My college classmate — white and not the child of immigrants — was in disbelief at the woman’s insistence: “She drives a BMW; why is she harping on getting back her 75 cents?” My reply: “How do you think she bought that expensive car?”

According to the latest California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress,¹ more than 80% of LAUSD 11th graders did not meet math standards. Put differently, four out of five young adults who are about to graduate high school in our cities do not have basic math skills.

The ability to use mathematical procedures and concepts is even worse:

How well do students use mathematical rules and ideas? The answer: fewer than 15% of 11th graders meet that standard. 11th graders with parents who did not graduate high school fare even worse: 87% of them do not have basic math skills, and barely 8% of them are able to use mathematical rules and ideas. Even with $15/hr jobs that gross them $30,000 a year, how do we expect these young adults to balance a checkbook, to understand the concepts of interest vs principal payments, and to create (let alone adhere to) a budget?

An unwavering emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) topics is imperative for addressing many of our state’s problems; although non-STEM education can be left to local school districts and municipalities, minimum STEM standards should be under the purview of the National Science Foundation, much as they were during the space race against Soviet Russia in the 1950s onward.

And STEM education is not simply meant for doctors and engineers. Vocational training is an oft-overlooked member of the STEM family! General contractors, electricians, plumbers, software programmers, video game designers, and many more vocations all trace their origins to STEM. Skilled vocations translate to a lower risk of poverty, and a lower risk of poverty translates to fewer gun crimes and better health outcomes.

Finally, basic math (and, by extension, financial literacy education) is not simply meant for students. Parents without high school educations beget children who fare worse in school. Parents who receive welfare benefits should receive financial literacy training in addition to vocational training; more importantly, homeless parents with children should receive financial literacy and vocational training along with temporary stipends to foster their stability and independence.

1. https://caaspp-elpac.ets.org/caaspp/