Posted on 08/31/2023 2:08:44 AM PDT by Olog-hai
Diego Fonseca looked at the computer and took a breath. It was his final attempt at the math placement test for his first year of college. His first three tries put him in pre-calculus, a blow for a student who aced honors physics and computer science in high school.
Functions and trigonometry came easily, but the basics gave him trouble. He struggled to understand algebra, a subject he studied only during a year of remote learning in high school.
“I didn’t have a hands-on, in-person class, and the information wasn’t really there,” said Fonseca, 19, of Ashburn, Virginia, a computer science major who hoped to get into calculus. “I really struggled when it came to higher-level algebra because I just didn’t know anything.”
Fonseca is among 100 students who opted to spend a week of summer break at George Mason University brushing up on math lessons that didn’t stick during pandemic schooling. The northern Virginia school started Math Boot Camp because of alarming numbers of students arriving with gaps in their math skills.
Colleges across the country are grappling with the same problem as academic setbacks from the pandemic follow students to campus. At many universities, engineering and biology majors are struggling to grasp fractions and exponents. More students are being placed into pre-college math, starting a semester or more behind for their majors, even if they get credit for the lower-level classes.
Colleges largely blame the disruptions of the pandemic, which had an outsize impact on math. Reading scores on the national test known as NAEP plummeted, but math scores fell further, by margins not seen in decades of testing. Other studies find that recovery has been slow. …
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Like I said... its not hard to determine the quality of the education your kids are getting whether private or public....
It would be a mistake to think because youre paying exorbitant amount of money to a private school somehow the kids arent susceptible to the same pitfalls as public education.
It all still boils down to being vigilant. I am perfectly happy with the system my kids are in, but then again I am involved... a bit naïve to think all systems are created equal. Sorry.
Thats the point.
I don’t know what the connection is, but music and mathematics are quite similar.
Pythagoras would agree!
Love Khan Academy but I haven’t had time to log in for ages!
I’ve take Calculus 1, 2 and 3 along with Differential Equations in College.
Kids today need to understand that you can’t slack off in these higher level math classes. It requires determination and effort. You get behind a few chapters or classes and you’ll be in real trouble to catch up.
Ehh, all the good people are talking about homoskedasticity or even fluidskedaticity...
But they always were skewed to the left.
Low IQ college students who should have learned basic math by age 8. Maybe Professors are ill equipped mentally.
I had a math teacher that I could tell knew nothing about the subject.
Not knowing algebra eliminates nearly every STEM profession.
Since Algebra was not around until the 9th century AD, I must challenge that assertion.
Roman roads, bridges, aqueducts, harbors etc. are still extant. No Algebra.
Some will confuse Boolean Logic with Algebra. It’s not the same. Former computer programmer here.
And, as a former machinist as well, used Geometry & Trigonometery. Never Algebra.
I don’t mean to get into a pissing contest with anyone here, and I wish someone, anyone, would help me out here BUT
VERY few, use Algebra in their everyday lives...
Our Diego is only nineteen years old and struggling? I suggest he search out a new path.
Here is the math problem they cannot do.
If you take out $80,000.00 in debt to get a degree in Gender Studies which entitles you to work at a fast-food restaurant at $15.00 and hour for 40 hours a week for 52 weeks a year.
You set aside 10% of your earning to pay you student loans every week. How long will you have to work to pay off your debt?
And the pandemic should not have affected those since he would have taken basic algebra as a freshman.
Housewives use it all the time. When shopping when cutting a recipe in half or doubling it. People use it when they do not even think they are using it.
There was a line in one of Poul Anderson’s science fiction books about “Bach, who spoke to God in mathematics”. I have forgotten which book, but not the line itself.
They can’t blame the Pandemic in all honesty. They should be blaming their Admissions standards. There’s no excuse. They destroy their credibility when taking such an approach. And they put their institution to shame. If a student isn’t ready for a class then they should flunk out, preferably the first week so they can go take the prerequisite(s) to get properly prepared for success.
“There was a line in one of Poul Anderson’s science fiction books about “Bach, who spoke to God in mathematics”. I have forgotten which book, but not the line itself.”
Anderson’s books were a large part of my 1960s. Great mind.
Yep, you can’t get behind in math or foreign languages and then cram for the test. Once I learned that, I did OK in college. Never went beyond the first course in differential equations, though that came in handy later when I took a physical chemistry course.
Naturally, I have long since forgotten most of what I learned in college. Sometimes I think about digging out my old calculus textbook and seeing if I can work my way through it again for mental exercise.
I still have some of his books but I haven’t read one in a while. My wife and I both like science fiction (though not all the same books) and we have well over 4,000 sf and fantasy books. Probably need to cull out some that we’ll never reread, but that’s never easy.
Obviously so, considering how much they willing pay for something they probably get for free down at the library.
Teachers are never at fault. Never.
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