By Randall Poulton 

Last week’s question: What is a groyne? 

A. A vegetarian substitute for pork loin B. A type of watercraft built by native Americans
C. A manmade hydraulic structure 
D. A glacial artifact similar to an erratic
E. A medieval torture device

The answer is “C”. A groyne, or groin, is a manmade “wall” that sticks out into the water from the ocean shore, usually at a beach, or from a river bank. Groynes interrupt and slow-down the flow of the water thereby limiting erosion and sediment transport. A groyne is usually built with rocks or logs. Beaver dams are a sort of natural groyne. When beavers abandon a pond, the dam will eventually fail. Once drained, the area behind their dam is called a beaver meadow. The soil in a beaver meadow is very fertile from accumulated silt and rich in organics. (Beavers only poop in the water.) Bottom line: Mother nature was building groynes long before human beings.

This puts a wrap on my beaver related questions!

This week’s question:

The results of the most recent round of standardized testing of America’s school children confirmed we continue to fall behind other countries in terms of academic achievement. While our kids did alright on the science and reading questions, they are below the international average for math. These results are embarrassingly bad considering the USA spends more money per student on education than any other country! It gets worse: In Baltimore, only seven percent (7%) of the students tested “proficient” in math. How does the Baltimore City school system stack up against New York City schools in terms of learning achievement in math?

A. About the same

B. NYC schools did even worse, only 6% of students in grades 3-8 scored proficient in math

C. NYC schools did a little better, 15% of students in grades 3-8 scored proficient in math

D. NYC schools did three times better, 21% of students in grades 3-8 scored proficient in math

E. NYC schools did more than five times better: 38% of students in grades 3-8 scored proficient in math

F. NYC schools are still closed due to COVID. There was no testing in 2022.