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What Is the Value of Algebra?
The Washington Post ^ | February 16, 2006 | Richard Cohen

Posted on 03/07/2006 10:12:59 AM PST by RBroadfoot

None, according to Richard Cohen of the Washington Post.

EXCERPT: I am haunted by Gabriela Ocampo. ... failing algebra six times in six semesters, trying it a seventh time and finally just despairing over ever getting it.

The L.A. school district now requires all students to pass a year of algebra ...

Here's the thing, Gabriela: You will never need to know algebra. I have never once used it and never once even rued that I could not use it. ...

Gabriela, sooner or later someone's going to tell you that algebra teaches reasoning. This is a lie propagated by, among others, algebra teachers. Writing is the highest form of reasoning. This is a fact. Algebra is not. The proof of this, Gabriela, is all the people in my high school who were whizzes at math but did not know a thing about history and could not write a readable English sentence. ...

Algebra ruined many a day for me. Now it could ruin your life.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: education; matheducation
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To: Minuteman23
Thanks for the stealth ping, Steve. This is a subject near and dear to my heart, for sure. :)

Algebra forms the indispensable foundation for all of the sciences: physics, chemistry, biosciences, all types of mechanics and engineering ... all of which are capable of interpreting and/or predicting every natural event ... the minute and the majestic ... from subatomic motion to supernovas ... or creating man-made ones. And it plays an indispensable role beyond science -- in music, art, and other more 'aesthetic' disciplines.

I believe those who claim that algebra is 'useless' fall into two categories:

(1) those who use it everyday (even without formal instruction, because much of algebra is simply real world analytical common sense), without being aware that they do, and

(2) those who benefit from its use, without even being aware that they do.

Every one of the hundreds of effects of modern conveniences with which we come into contact each day (from formulae used in growing/transporting/preparing the food that we eat, to the research and design that resulted in the effective functioning of the car that we drive) finds its roots in a knowledge of algebra.

Each of us does not have to have a formal algebra education. But every hour of every day of our lives is influenced by its use. We need not know how a television works in order to push the 'on' button and enjoy what it has to offer. But we need to acknowledge that the knowledge possessed by those who designed and built that television has had a major influence on our lives.

Anyone who questions the value of algebra sees the world through superficial glasses (yet another item whose design and creation would have been all but impossible without that branch of mathematics for which he has no use. :)

I have tutored math (from basic math through advanced Calculus) on and off for more than twenty years. In the process I have come to the very sad conclusion that most people (especially children) are not 'math challenged'. Most of their math teachers are incapable of getting mathematical concepts across. And the reason that most people do not like, or feel comfortable working with, math is that their foundations in the study ... from basic math on ... are shaky. And if one does not comprehend simple fractions/percentages/positive and negative numbers, etc. then his comprehension of any 'higher math' that follows is in jeopardy, if not an exercise in futility. More than any other subject, math builds upon itself. If one block of the foundation is missing, anything built upon it will fall.

So many American children (not just the current generation, but the three or four generations that preceded them as well) never received a good foundation in the basics. And attempting to build on that fragile knowledge of the basics with algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and more advanced math disciplines, only results in frustration ... the frustration that is evidenced in this article (I have never once used it and never once even rued that I could not use it), and in some posts on this thread.

Mr. Cohen, you use algebra hundreds of times every day … indirectly. There isn't anything you put into your body, or anything you see, taste, smell, touch, or hear (music included), whose designer (the Lord highest among them) did not make use of logic, shape, arrangement, lines, vectors, matrices, relationships, sets, operations, etc. – all of which are born in the study of (or the creation of, where the Lord is concerned) algebra.

The fact that so many people do not recognize just how much the use of algebra permeates every day of our lives is evidence of the fact that they simply have not been taught its importance or relevance – let alone how to use it to their advantage.

The author is living with blinders on, offering a myopic, one-dimensional argument in order to denigrate a multi-dimensional discipline.

surprisingly light reading, but contains fascinating food for thought

~ joanie

521 posted on 03/07/2006 10:21:35 PM PST by joanie-f (If you believe God is your co-pilot, it might be time to switch seats ...)
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To: absolootezer0
pass around the lyman allen games to these kids.

Do you have a link to this? Sounds interesting.

522 posted on 03/08/2006 12:25:13 AM PST by Stegall Tx (...but I doubt it.)
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To: taxcontrol
In fact, I believe that often students are pushed into Trig and Calc when they need another year of algebra or statistics.

Strongly agree!

523 posted on 03/08/2006 3:28:14 AM PST by TankerKC (Pull your head out.)
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To: Final Authority

You prove the rule. If one can't learn mathematics one can't be intellectually disciplined, and you are not.


And?


524 posted on 03/08/2006 4:50:36 AM PST by Chickensoup (The water in the pot is getting warmer, froggies.The water in the pot is getting warmer, froggies.)
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To: RBroadfoot

I do know that if you miss even one day of Algebra class, you are pretty much lost after that!

I barely passed it in HS.
When I took it in college, I sat on the front row, never missed a class, paid attention, worked LOTS of problems daily, and got an A.

Never use the stuff now.


525 posted on 03/08/2006 5:01:03 AM PST by Muzzle_em ("Mayor Nagin, what about those buses?")
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To: trubluolyguy

I am a bricklayer and use algebra all the time. I believe it does help with reasoning.


526 posted on 03/08/2006 5:05:10 AM PST by winodog
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To: Emmett McCarthy

I love math and everything about it. I don't think every student should have to take algebra. That said, it is more about the thinking process, and the reasoning required in 'doing' math than the actual problem of finding X.


527 posted on 03/08/2006 5:06:41 AM PST by mathluv (Bushbot, Snowflake, Dittohead ---- Bring it on!!!)
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To: Stegall Tx

try www.academicgames.org
i can't view that page from where i'm at right now, but i think its the right one.


528 posted on 03/08/2006 5:18:18 AM PST by absolootezer0 ("My God, why have you forsaken us.. no wait, its the liberals that have forsaken you... my bad")
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To: ontos-on

I don't think the guy was saying that algebra should be omitted from the ciricullum. He was saying that she should not jump off a bridge because she flunked algebra 6 times. Of course, it would be nice if she could pass, and get her diploma, but having tutored some kids with learning disabilities, I can tell you that there are some who just can't learn, and there is no point in beating a dead horse.


529 posted on 03/08/2006 5:25:20 AM PST by Brilliant
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To: Chickensoup

At least you can copy and paste. I suppose that way you can't be accused of doing anything original.


530 posted on 03/08/2006 5:35:19 AM PST by Final Authority
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To: RBroadfoot
can't even do percentages,

If schools taught only one math concept, percentages should be the one. Think of the math phobics and ignoramouses in the House and Senate who decide what to do with ...only 1%....of maybe 5 trillion dollars!

531 posted on 03/08/2006 5:54:44 AM PST by Freee-dame
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To: Thinkin' Gal
Or... Just use ounces.

Sure. I didn't think of that. But I think the original poster probably could do with the re-enforcement of the idea of multiplying/dividing both sides by the same value. That's big in dealing with fractions, LCD, GCF, etc.

SD

532 posted on 03/08/2006 6:18:16 AM PST by SoothingDave
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To: trubluolyguy
I can look at a map, see the miles to the destination and figure in my by multiplication how long the trip will take.

That's Algebra:
velocity(v)=distance(d) divided by time(t)
or
v=d/t or miles per hour = miles/hours
d=vt or miles or miles per hour X hours
t=d/v or hours or miles / miles per hour

Multiplication is a tool for Algebra. No matter how you arrived at your answer you still started with an unknown variable and you used Algebra to arrive at that answer. It's simple Algabra, but it's still Algebra.

533 posted on 03/08/2006 6:25:57 AM PST by numberonepal (Don't Even Think About Treading On Me)
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To: Toby06

Look, friend, I didn't start calling names. Now, what is your malfunction?


534 posted on 03/08/2006 6:33:15 AM PST by Flavius Josephus (The only good muslim is a bad muslim)
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To: ontos-on

And apparently nobody evrer taught you any manners jerk off.


535 posted on 03/08/2006 6:34:33 AM PST by cripplecreek (Never a minigun handy when you need one.)
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To: Jhohanna

Certainly I understand what dyslexia is, and I feel for those who suffer from it. I find myself transposing letters and even words when I write longhand.

I see people on TV a lot of whom I have my doubts as to whether they really suffer from dyslexia, or if they simply can't read.

I mean no offense to people who struggle with this -- the lazy nogoodniks that piggyback on your challenge are the ones who disrespect people who really suffer from lysdexia.


536 posted on 03/08/2006 6:38:41 AM PST by Flavius Josephus (The only good muslim is a bad muslim)
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To: ontos-on
If you consider following a recipe doing algebra, then I am a master at algebra and didn't know it. I think we are looking at this from different perspectives, which is fine.

However, I won't end my reply to you with some snarky comment. We just see this topic differently.

537 posted on 03/08/2006 6:43:42 AM PST by yellowdoghunter (I sometimes only vote for Republicans because they are not Democrats....by Dr. Thomas Sowell)
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To: joanie-f

Magnificent Joanie!

You have Email.


538 posted on 03/08/2006 6:45:54 AM PST by Minuteman23
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To: joanie-f

Bingo


539 posted on 03/08/2006 7:16:12 AM PST by Constantine XIII
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To: RBroadfoot

As if I needed further proof to know that Richard Cohen is a moron.


540 posted on 03/08/2006 7:51:23 AM PST by bondjamesbond (RICE '08)
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