"I think algebra is prejudicial against all us dummies and therefor racist. It should be abolished."
Posted on 02/13/2006 7:34:29 PM PST by voletti
The only reason I passed algebra is because my mother literally sat with me every night in seventh grade as I wailed and wept over my cruel algebra homework, which she understood quite well but I never really did. (So much for the notion that all math-deficient girls need is math-whiz female role models.) I managed to keep the basic facts in my head just long enough to get a C in the class and do well enough on the SATs a few years later to get into UCLA, and that was the end of my algebraic education.
In those days, some three decades ago in California, Alebgra II wasn’t a college requirement, and if you were deemed an advanced student (which I was, except for math) you could get the whole thing out of the way by junior high. You certainly didn’t need algebra to graduate from high school, which in its wisdom the Los Angeles Unified School District now requires — along with a mandatory college-prep curriculum currently being phased in for all students.
But as the Los Angeles Times reported recently in a series about failing students, less than 40 percent of 9th graders pass Alebgra I with a grade of C or above. The school board hasn’t explained how making every high schooler take even more higher math will improve the current 50-percent dropout rate in L.A. public schools, or help California colleges already overwhelmed with freshmen needing remedial classes. And these educators may need some remedial math themselves, because apparently they can’t understand that by definition half the population is below average, and therefore not cut out for college-level work.
Perhaps the higher-math requirement is some sort of equalizer, because poor kids from troubled homes aren’t the only ones having problems with algebra. An intelligent, well-read friend of mine has a lovely, artistic, carefully raised teenage daughter who gets straight F’s in math, and I doubt this is a freak case.
My own 16-year-old had a D in Algebra II last semester until she began attending her public school’s free weekly tutoring sessions. I supplemented these by paying the 24-year-old tutor, a nice boy who somehow made the subject more understandable than the teacher, $20 a week to come to our house Saturday mornings. But after Maia upped her grade to a C, I saw no need to continue, especially after the tutor began suggesting they should date. A grade of C in algebra is good enough for me — particularly in a schedule that, because of mostly A’s in AP and afterschool college classes, means she has a 4.0 grade-point average even with that C.
Back to my own tortured algebra lessons. “You’ll need it when you grow up,” my mother always insisted loudly, trying to be heard over my high-pitched whines. Well, she was right about a lot of things, including all those x and y equations, but not that.
I’ve never needed algebra, and in fact have noticed that in everyday life fast arithmetic can trump advanced math. I used to ask a physics-major friend to estimate the tip when we had lunch, thinking that because she went to Caltech she’d be much better than little old math idiot me. But then I began to notice I’d figured out the tip in my head while she was still staring vaguely at the bill, presumably distracted by passing thoughts of quantum mechanics.
I admit there are moments when algebra might come in handy. As a longtime freelance writer, I periodically do complicated calculations about how soon my money will run out — and I can see that if I knew how to make x equal what’s in the bank, and y equal what’s coming in, I could get depressed a lot faster. But I’ve always been able to solve these puzzles via long-division estimates on my $3 calcuator. I even got the right answer on the sample algebra question the Times printed, although I’m not sure how.
Certainly all high-school students should have access to college-prep courses, and those with potential could use more encouragment. I'd have a better opinion of Rob Reiner if he let go of his nursery-school hobbyhorse for a minute to consider that education funds might be better spent on, say, more honors classes, skilled teachers, and college and career counselors in the upper grades than universal preschool for four-year-olds.
But a realistic respect for the vocational track might help too, with happier results than setting up even more kids to fail. There’s no shame in having an aptitude for useful, honorable work like being a plumber or medical assistant or hairdresser or salesman — none of which requires a college degree — instead of higher education. And if, as the Times pointed out, apprentice programs for blue-collar trades like plumbing require algebra, well, that’s another track that might not be for everyone. So why make us all get on it?
Math is hard. Let the Chinese and Indians take it.
Are they denied college slots because they can't understand advanced algebra? Other math could be required, like what we used to call "business math" - accounting basics and such.
Anybody with a daughter named Maia needs some kind of help.
Catherine brags about her inability to understand algebra. What is it with these people?
Good question.
I've always been good at math (boiased towards geometry over algebra in my school days). But hey, there were some subjects which I inherently didn't like. I dod ok in them but it wasn't fun. Maybe offering kids a choice is what the article is all about. But the problem is, kids that young are too young to know the consequences of choices they make. Nobody'll take math if its seen as tough and uncool to the larger detriment of these kids later in life.
One of my complaints about early algebra teaching is that it includes almost no application to real-world problems so that the need for it is a mystery for most students. I never understood algebraic, linear graphing until I saw it applied to breakeven analysis in business. Now, I understand it just fine and have taught it.
What high school students need, really, is some basic statistics. That is one of the most useful areas of math, except for basic, practical math. It would help people understand how statistics are used (and also misused and misrepresented) so much by the media and others.
When I was in school we didn't brag about what we couldn't do. We didn't advertise it when we had a hard time with a subject. People nowdays feel the problem isn't them. It's either the fault of the teacher or the subject matter is useless.
Fran Lebovitz, I believe, said something like "Resolutely refuse to remain conscious during algebra. I assure you, in the real world there's no such thing as algebra" [quoted from memory, and second-hand at that].
I hated geometry (I didn't believe the theorems, and wouldn't memorize them)....but I was good at Algebra I & II, and even better at Calculus probably BECAUSE I WAS PAYING TO LEARN IT! But, what really got me going was when my 11 year old son could do math problems in his head faster than I could.....then I REALLY started paying attention! And, his son....was doing double digit addition in his head when he was about 5-6 years old.....maybe there IS a gene?
When college freshmen complained about the algebra requirement to me, their history professor, I told them it was necessary to teach them to think logically. That is a good ability to have, no matter what one does in life.
My 11 year old son is a math whiz. Actually, all of my kids are great at math. I was good (engineering degree), but I think they are all better.
One of my daughters has brain damage, and I am very relieved that she is good at math because she has a very difficult time with talking, reading, and writing. She loves money and math, so I figure she'll be a good accountant because accountants don't have to talk much.
Yes, and the DISCIPLINE required to LEARN math, is helpful, also.
Given the mother's attitude toward algebra, it's no wonder to me that her daughter would have a great deal of difficulty with it.
If you can't do math, you should not graduate! Just like math, it's simple.
"Many years ago, I had to work very, very hard (with the help of Mr. Adler) to overcome my early deficiency in algebra in order to get into an MBA program."
Hey Good! I did mechanical engg and then an MBA. Despite that I only now realize the importance of statistics thanks to econometric courses I've taken.
"Once in, I took statistics, which you need some basic algebra for, and learned more about math than I thought I would ever be able to in my life. I have even taught classes that included both statistical and algebraic material. I never thought I would ever use algebra, when I was in high school, either, but I have used it a lot."
Couldn't agree more. Unless people can see WHY they're doing something, its a rote filled exercise.
Lemme assure you I like math well enough, and also respect it.
(:-D)
Perhaps the author should learn some math; at least the definition of average (and median.) From the article, it seem that she couldn't compute either if she used fingers and toes.
Mathematics is inherently racist.
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