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Locked on 12/14/2022 9:10:48 PM PST by Jim Robinson, reason:
Flame wars |
Posted on 12/13/2022 3:57:49 AM PST by DFG
The Kansas Board of Regents is considering stripping specific university math requirements after it was found that a significant percentage of college freshmen fail algebra, NPR affiliate KCUR reported.
The Regents, who oversee the system’s six public universities, are considering implementing the Math Pathways approach which matches students to a math course based on their major instead of mandating algebra for all incoming students. While many universities require that all freshmen pass algebra as a prerequisite for graduation, one in three Kansas students reportedly fail the course, which could delay a student’s graduation.
Daniel Archer, vice president of academic affairs for the Kansas Board of Regents, said that algebra is not always necessary for many students. Only 20 percent of majors require higher-level math beyond algebra, KCUR reported.
“We’re sending the majority of students down the college algebra road, which is really not necessary,” Archer said. “It’s not practical. It’s not really needed. And it’s not relevant for their fields.”
he Math Pathways approach offers students the option of taking alternatives to algebra such as statistics and quantitative reasoning, according to its 2018 brief. Its summary claims that algebra is a “gatekeeper to higher education for students not majoring in a math-heavy field.”
(Excerpt) Read more at tennesseestar.com ...
Societal collapse.
The more stupid the populace, the easier for the Commie ‘RATS to control.
It must be elimernatored, just like speeling.
GUT Common Core.
Algebra? That was always the very easiest of the math disciplines. We did algebra in 6th grade. How does a college student fail algebra?
Maybe, maybe not. Stupid people are more inclined to riot when the don’t understand something.
The real issue: too high a percentage of black students cannot master algebra. Students below a certain IQ will not “get it”.
That is WHY math has been required as a gatekeeper for higher education, because it weeds out people who would not make it in any really challenging intellectual field.
“College algebra” is not referring to linear algebra, but instead to the introductory level of algebra that used to be taught in middle school and was expected, at worst, to be mastered by the 9th grade.
Wow. 6th grade is early.
How far did the students progress by the end of K-12?
Students whose IQ is only higher than than the outside temperature during the winter time shouldn’t be in college.
Me and algebra never mixed.
The only F I ever made in k 12. My arthritic epileptic chicken handwriting didn’t help.
I would have been kicked out by 9th grade.
“We’re sending the majority of students down the college algebra road, which is really not necessary,” Archer said. “It’s not practical. It’s not really needed. And it’s not relevant for their fields.”
This kind of thinking would remove most requirements. History is not necessary for all majors, nor are great literature, nor is any specific science. But such studies help to develop educated, rigorous minds. Universities should not educate people only in “their fields” but should provide a broad, demanding education.
Whether algebra, specifically, should be required is an open question. But supposed relevance to a major should not be the final test.
I was thinking the same. If we understood algebra as 13 year olds, how is it that 18 year olds don’t? We are so lost as a society.
Why not just let the students teach math? It would save the school money and the GPAs would skyrocket!!
today’s three Rs: racism, recycling and reproduction
This is the Math portion of the 1895 Kansas 8th grade exam:
ARITHMETIC
(Time, 1 ¼ hour)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weights 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cts. Per bu., deducting 1050 lbs for tare?
4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 per cent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per m?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 per cent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.
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