**By Dave Kung** The kids are not alright – at least not in terms of their mathematical preparation for college. That’s one thing nearly everyone agrees on in the wake of a recent UCSD report about their incoming freshmen. The Senate-Administration Workgroup on Admissions (SAWG) report paints a shocking enough picture of students’ math skills to generate stories in outlets from the Wall Street Journal to The Atlantic. Most math instructors I’ve talked with agree that there is a problem. Many more students than in the past are arriving to college not understanding middle and elementary school mathematics enough to be placed into the college-level courses needed for their intended programs. Most also agree that the pandemic was bad for student learning, but the agreement stops there. Like a Rorschach test, people see what they want in the data, whether from their own campus or at UCSD.…