I respectfully disagree. I’d say people need math more than they need to know proper punctuation.
Most people have no clue what tax bracket they are in. Or how much they even pay in taxes each year. They are incapable of doing this simple math and so are not incensed by our confiscatory taxation.
They have no clue when they are being ripped off either - with loans or any other products, because they cannot comparison shop. No wonder the savings rate of these young kids is negative - without basic math skills, they can’t figure out how to do a simple budget.
But it shows the total dumbing down of the population. When I went to school, every student took physics. Whether they ‘needed’ it or not. How does one know if they love the subject if they are never introduced to it?
And without scientists and engineers, the number of patents and innovations in this country has plummeted. We farm out our technical expertise to India. Manufacturing goes to China. We can’t gain from what we give away - and cannot recreate later on when all this comes crashing down.
They have no clue when they are being ripped off either - with loans or any other products, because they cannot comparison shop. No wonder the savings rate of these young kids is negative - without basic math skills, they can’t figure out how to do a simple budget.
I agree, but that's really due to a total lack of education about money. I didn't say they don't need any math skills, I said higher math, meaning algebra and beyond. You don't need algebra to draw up a budget, or trig to know what tax bracket you are in. What you need to do any of those things is a good working knowledge of arithmetic. If you want to be a scientist or engineer you need higher math, but 99% of us are not scientists or engineers. I think requiring higher math to graduate discourages many people from graduating who will never need that math.
The truth is schools don't teach about money, profits, running a business, etc. because teachers themselves are largely ignorant of such things. They look down on such things, just like Obama does. That's why they become teachers.