Or he's in a profession that doesn't use much math at all, and has just forgotten it because his brain deemed it not important--even if he understood the principles behind geometry. There are formulas and theorems that those tests ask about specifically.
I think the more damaging thing about this article was his (and the author's) insistence that the math is not required for the majority of professions, and therefore, should not be required in high school. Basic education is liberal arts education, and, setting aside barista jokes, liberal arts education is about understanding a wide breadth of subjects. It is not, nor has it ever been, vocational training. Moreover, this type of math is absolutely imperative to some of our most needed (and oldest) professions, like engineering and construction, and some of the newer ones, like software engineering.
That aside, I agree with your point, and what you highlight is a problem with standardized test per se. People will always optimize for the variables by which they are measured. The trick is to align those incentives with the desired outcome of education.
As a postscript, the word you're looking for is "rote," not "wrote"--the former means learning by repetition, while the latter is the past tense of write. Since we're talking about education, this paragraph seemed appropriate.
I think the more damaging thing about this article was his (and the author's) insistence that the math is not required for the majority of professions, and therefore, should not be required in high school. Basic education is liberal arts education, and, setting aside barista jokes, liberal arts education is about understanding a wide breadth of subjects. It is not, nor has it ever been, vocational training. Moreover, this type of math is absolutely imperative to some of our most needed (and oldest) professions, like engineering and construction, and some of the newer ones, like software engineering.
That aside, I agree with your point, and what you highlight is a problem with standardized test per se. People will always optimize for the variables by which they are measured. The trick is to align those incentives with the desired outcome of education.
As a postscript, the word you're looking for is "rote," not "wrote"--the former means learning by repetition, while the latter is the past tense of write. Since we're talking about education, this paragraph seemed appropriate.