Are you smarter than a Minnesota math student?

Whenever we discuss education in Minnesota, there’s a tendency to lament that our kids are stupid, our teachers poor, our schools failures. And, it’s true, some kids are stupid, some teachers are poor, and some schools specialize in failure.

But it also ignores that many are none of those things. Quite the opposite, in fact. Why are some kids so smart and some kids aren’t? Is it their teachers? Their parents? Their schools? Or is it just the way it is? Nature vs. nurture?

MPR’s Tom Weber will have a story on Morning Edition tomorrow on an event in South St. Paul on Monday — the Minnesota State High School Mathematic League Tournament.

It’s not done, yet, but you can find it up top here later this evening.

About 300 kids — from the state’s public and charter schools — attended.

Is it time to rethink — even if just a little — some of the sweeping generalizations we make when the subject is education? Take this quiz and then you tell me.

Here are some of the answers — as well as more questions — for hours of News Cut fun.