Why College Students Suddenly Can’t Do Basic Math | The Deep

American college students can’t do basic math – and the problem didn’t start in college. In this episode of The Deep, Erika breaks down shocking new data from UC San Diego, exposes how grade inflation and dishonest standards hollowed out education, and explores whether the “Mississippi Miracle” is the solution to America’s math crisis.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro: college freshman lack high-school math skills
2:33 - What the UCSD report uncovered
4:18 - Standardized tests and grade inflation
7:18 - The system is broken
10:07 - Getting at the root to solve the math crisis
13:35 - Conclusion: putting the soul back in education

Sources:

Bloom, Allan. The Closing of the American Mind. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987.

Horowitch, Rose. 2025. “American Kids Can’t Do Math Anymore.” The Atlantic, November 19, 2025. Accessed December 5, 2025. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/11/math-decline-ucsd/684973/.

Piper, Kelsey. 2025. “When Grades Stop Meaning Anything.” The Argument, November 18, 2025. Accessed December 5, 2025. https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/when-grades-stop-meaning-anything. theargumentmag.com

Rawat, Saannidhya, and Vikram K. Suresh. 2024. GPT Takes the SAT: Tracing Changes in Test Difficulty and Students’ Math Performance. SSRN Working Paper, August 3, 2024. Accessed December 5, 2025. https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=4915452. SSRN

Salzman, Matthew, and Tyler Cowen. 2024. “Math, SAT Scores May Be Doing Worse Than We Had Thought.” Marginal Revolution, August 2024. Accessed December 5, 2025. https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2024/08/math-sat-scores-may-be-doing-worse-than-we-had-thought.html.