Trump says Harvard is teaching ‘remedial mathematics.' Is there any truth to that?
Even with her previous calculus experience, she said, the Harvard course was far from an easy A. 'I'm glad that I took a class that pushed me,' Richardson said.
Advertisement
In recent months, amid the White House's ongoing battle with Harvard, the Trump administration has used that class to question
the university's academic rigor.
In what has become a familiar refrain, Education Secretary
Get Starting Point
A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.
Enter Email
Sign Up
'I want Harvard to be great again,' Trump said in the Oval Office
last month. 'Harvard announced two weeks ago that they're going to teach remedial mathematics. Remedial, meaning they're going to teach low grade mathematics like two plus two is four. How did these people get into Harvard if they can't do basic mathematics?'
Advertisement
Richardson said she
laughed when she heard the remedial math comment because 'MA5 is the exact same class [as MA]. It just meets five times a week' as opposed to four.
According to an online course description of MA5, the extra day of instruction time 'will target foundational skills in algebra, geometry, and quantitative reasoning that will help you unlock success in Math MA.'
Harvard has offered for decades. Even MA5's format is not entirely new. Five days of instruction was previously required for all students taking Math MA in 2018.
'If you look at academic support and a college trying to help their students, and you think that's unnecessary or it's embarrassing that they have to provide that kind of support, then it's coming from a place of ignorance,' said Richardson. 'You have no understanding of how, not just college, but how learning works. You can't learn without help.'
All Harvard freshmen take a placement exam in mathematics prior to their arrival on campus. Based on how they score, the university suggests which course they should be placed into. Math MA5, MA, and its companion course, MB, make up Harvard's most basic introductory calculus courses known as the M series. MA5 was introduced last year by Harvard to combat pandemic learning losses, which saw students show up to campus with gaps in their math knowledge, especially in early high school courses like algebra, as a result of virtual learning.
'When this first came out about us teaching remedial math, I was like, 'Well, this is news to me and I wouldn't even know how to do it,'' said
Advertisement
Only 20 students took MA5 this past academic year according to Kelly. The course was taught across two sections, each with 10 students, Kelly said, all of whom have declared majors like economics or biology that necessitate a strong foundation in calculus.
'One thing that's been insulting to me this whole time is the narrative that the students we're teaching and that we're working with don't belong here, because they 100 percent belong here,' said Kelly, who has personally instructed some of the students who took MA5. 'I love working with them. They're going to go off and do great things and I know it.'
Remedial math courses in higher education
are typically defined as 'non credit bearing courses that cover middle school and high school content below that of college algebra,' said
The controversy started a few months ago when a social media post about the course from an educational nonprofit CEO was picked up by conservative influencers.
Advertisement
'If Harvard students are struggling with some of this foundational math and they're having to put extra time and reorganize classes to make it work, what does that say about the state of math deficits right now in America?' he explained, adding that he 'wasn't trying to put any spin on it' by using the word 'remedial' in his post. 'I was just trying to make it succinct,' he said.
Still, that didn't stop conservatives from latching onto both the remedial characterization and the Crimson article as evidence that Harvard has let its admissions standards slip in pursuit of leftist ideology and hitting racial diversity quotas.
In April,
'I'm certainly concerned that anyone at Harvard would need to have this sort of remediation,' Garrett, a former tenured professor at Bakersfield College, a community college in California, said in an interview with the Globe. 'It's disheartening to see Harvard abdicate their mission and choose instead to prioritize less-prepared students and effectively have to water down instruction.'
Advertisement
Garrett dismissed pandemic learning loss as 'a false explanation' for Harvard reviewing 'basic' concepts from algebra and geometry with students. Instead, he said,
Harvard's choice to eliminate standardized testing as a condition for application weakened the students they've admitted. Harvard, like many other universities,
said assertions about an academic downturn at the university are falsehoods.
Every 10 years, the commission conducts a multi-year, peer review of institutions it accredits, he said, in order to ensure they are worthy to be degree-granting colleges and universities.
'The students getting into Harvard are doing the most rigorous academic work in the world, so to suggest that Harvard students need remedial education is not really a serious argument,' Schall said, pointing to
Julian E.J. Sorapuru can be reached at
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Trump administration: international students will face strict social media review
WASHINGTON — International students applying for visas to study in the United States will be subjected to stricter social media screening moving forward, the Trump administration says. Their entire online presence will be reviewed, including their social media media activity, during the visa application process for indications of hostility toward the country's citizens, culture, government, institutions and democratic principles. The State Department announced the policy on June 18, following the release of leaked guidance in May that signaled the changes were coming. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told embassies then about the enhanced social media vetting protocols, as he halted new student visa application interviews. The added screening initially affected students who applied to Harvard, which the administration has been fighting with over allegations of antisemitism. But in a message outlining the new screening measures that was obtained by multiple outlets in late May, Rubio said the review process was intended serve as a pilot program. At the time, the State Department told USA TODAY it had required visa applicants to provide social media identifiers since 2019 and that it continuously vets all visa holders for the duration of their stay. In a statement announcing the resumption of student visa interviews and the new online screening policy on June 18, the State Department said that under new guidance, consular officers will be conducting a comprehensive and thorough vetting of all student and exchange visitor applicants. Visa applicants who fall under these guidelines will be asked to make their social media profiles to public. Failing to do could be interpretated as an intent to hide activity or evade the policy and could lead to rejection, the administration signaled. The Trump administration previously yanked, and then reinstated, visas at an array of universities for more than 4,700 students this spring. The removal of their visas had sparked more than 100 lawsuits and many visa cancellations were blocked in court. The Trump administration has been aggressively introducing visa restrictions — fully or partially barring travelers to the United States from 19 countries, students from China and foreign nationals seeking to study at or visit Harvard over the last month. A judge has since stopped the administration from blocking Harvard's ability to enroll international students. The travel restrictions went into effect on June 9. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Foreign students will face stricter social media screening, U.S. says
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Trump says he's close to striking a deal with Harvard
WASHINGTON – In an abrupt shift, President Donald Trump has signaled that his monthslong pressure campaign against Harvard University could be nearing an end. In a social media post on June 20, he said his administration is "working closely" with Harvard officials, who have "acted extremely appropriately during these negotiations, and appear to be committed to doing what is right." "It is very possible that a Deal will be announced over the next week or so," Trump said. He used the term "Settlement" when describing a potential resolution, appearing to indicate the detente could sort out Harvard's pending lawsuits against the federal government. Trump's comments follow a string of legal wins for Harvard's leaders, who vowed in April to fight back against what many onlookers in higher education have described as unprecedented interference by the federal government in a campus's affairs. Read more: Trump-Harvard clash heats up. Here's what to know. The Trump administration has frozen billions of dollars of Harvard's federal funding, launched a review of the school's tax-exempt status and attempted to prevent the university from enrolling international students, who make up a third of its student population. The White House says it has taken those actions in large part to force Harvard to better curb antisemitism on campus. Critics say that rationale doesn't reflect the massive changes in hiring, teaching and admissions the administration has tried to impose on the Ivy League school. Read more: Trump administration: international students will face strict social media review Mere hours after the university filed a new lawsuit against Trump in June, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs blocked the federal government from preventing Harvard from enrolling foreign students. Burroughs extended that ban indefinitely on June 20 while litigation between the White House and Harvard continues. Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@ Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @ This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump says a deal with Harvard could come soon
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Federal judge halts Trump's plans to keep Harvard from enrolling foreign students
After delaying a decision for several days, a federal court judge granted a preliminary injunction on Friday that will allow Harvard University's international students to continue attending school amidst a showdown with the president. The injunction, effectively blocking President Donald Trump's efforts to revoke Harvard's certification that allows the school to host foreign students, replaces two temporary restraining orders that were previously granted by U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs. Burroughs' ruling will remain in place while the rest of the lawsuit — where Harvard is suing the Trump administration over actions against its international student population — plays out. It is one of two instances where Harvard is suing the federal government. On Monday, after hearing from lawyers representing Harvard and the Trump administration, Burroughs said she needed more time to decide, ultimately extending a temporary restraining order that was set to expire on Thursday until Monday. Burroughs issued the preliminary injunction Friday afternoon. Read more: Harvard researcher's work gives 'hope' for Parkinson's. But the feds cut his funding In her three-page order, Burroughs wrote the federal government is 'enjoined from implementing, instituting, maintaining, or giving any force or effect to' the prior revocation of Harvard's Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification, which occurred on May 22. 'This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,' Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said at the time. 'It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments.' SEVP allows higher education institutions to issue visa application forms to prospective international students after admitting them. The forms are used to apply for a visa to enter the U.S. Read more: How Harvard's staredown with Trump could affect its international athletes As part of a June 4 proclamation where he tried to bar Harvard's foreign students from entering the U.S. entirely, Trump directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to consider stopping the processing of Harvard student visas. A temporary restraining order from Burroughs quickly blocked that, and the State Department ordered embassies around the world to resume processing Harvard University student visas. Burroughs' Friday order instructs the Trump administration to 'restore every visa holder and applicant to the position that individual would have been absent such Revocation Notice.' The federal government is now required to submit a status report within 72 hours detailing the steps it has taken to fall in line with Burroughs' order. MassLive reporter Juliet Schulman-Hall contributed to this story. Harvard researcher's work gives 'hope' for Parkinson's. But the feds cut his funding These US colleges are among the top 100 best global universities, US News says 'Far reaching consequences' — UMass Amherst sounds the alarm amid federal uncertainty MIT joins group of universities suing the DOD over funding cuts As federal funding cuts hit Harvard, a private investment firm and other donors step up Read the original article on MassLive.
