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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 21, 2024

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Specialized coaching in math barely even happens at the undergrad level.

This exists at both the elite and "pretty-good" level. There's the MOP and AoPS respectively. With similar programs to MOP internationally, and AoPS being accessible from anywhere with an internet connection now. Back in the 90's if you were not at the elite level you needed someone in your area with pretty specialized skill to help you through the book version of AoPS, but now they have a huge roster of highly qualified tutors/coaches that work online.

I'm very certain that the 100th best math undergraduate in the US has access to high level Putnam coaching. The problem is not as far out on the distribution. It's the 300 person survey Calc 1 classes at mediocre institutions that churn out incompetent engineers.