Posted on 11/12/2009 10:45:24 AM PST by george76
More city kids are graduating from high school, but that doesn't mean they can do college math.
Basic algebra involving fractions and decimals stumped a group of City University of New York freshmen - suggesting city schools aren't preparing them...
"These results are shocking," ... "They show that a disturbing proportion of New York City high school graduates lack basic skills."
During their first math class at one of CUNY's four-year colleges, 90% of 200 students tested couldn't solve a simple algebra problem... Only a third could convert a fraction into a decimal.
The lack of math skills means the CUNY students - nearly 70% of which come from city schools - could struggle to keep up with peers, fail classes or even drop out...
John Jay College sophomore Ahmed Elshafaie, 19, who graduated from Long Island City High School, said he avoids math classes.
"I don't want to ruin my GPA," he said. "High school standards were really low."
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
Figures.
Well, on the bright side my kids are going to have these stupid city kids to pick up trash, mow the lawn and spread bark mulch.
Let's see, 90% of 200 students (sound of calculator keys clicking) carry the two (more clicking) invert and divide (still more clicking) dang it, I hate pop quizzes...
Only a third could convert a fraction into a decimal.
I can't believe that 40% of these people couldn't do this conversion. What morons.
Hmmmmmmm...
33.3% = 40%,
1/3 = 2/5... what am I missing ;)
You can’t fool me! I will pay you back $1.81.
(I grew up making change and doing bank deposits in my mom and dad’s Mom and Pop store, so maybe I can get a job if all of the fancy cash registers crash. Now where do I find the cigar box to put the receipts in?)
Ayn Rand would say that time is again approaching.
My homeschoolers are now using **their** Saxon Math books with the own children.
33.3% = 40%,
1/3 = 2/5
... what am I missing ;)
The fact that I was joking?
I was homeschooled :)
I completely agree, however, they should still be able to use fractions and decimals and simple algebra. You should not get a high school diploma without those skills.
No, they didn’t absorb these things.
They were forced to MEMORIZE them. The educrats claimed that this “stifled childrens’ creativity” and “killed their souls” and other such twaddle.
I cannot fathom how children today need to resort to a calculator to multiply two numbers together, much less do addition and subtraction. I’m taking classes at a junior college right now, and it startles many younger people when I can multiply two two-digit numbers in my head in less than a second without a calculator. Someone once asked for 13 times 13... and I just said “169” without even thinking about it... and heads turned around.
Didn’t everyone use to memorize the multiplication tables up to 15? That’s how I was taught as a kid...
There’s a huge number of things about mathematics where I cannot tell you the why, who, when, where and so on. I might have been taught all of these things at one time, but the why, who, when and where was useless. The only thing that mattered was the “what?”
But I know them to be true and I used them all the time in engineering.
We should dispense with trying to make all kids into self-actualized polymaths, accept that some of them are going to be drones and just tell some of them “Look, don’t give me a bunch of static about this. Just memorize this stuff. There will be a test.”
Shocking.
I didn’t like Math all that much, but I persevered, and got an A in the class by the end of it.
When I jumped up to IB, there was so much ground I had to cover in a short amount of time. I wonder now, if my math understanding suffered as a result. It brought home to me just how deficient the regular program is with math.
And yes, very true about the teacher’s college. If your GPA is too low, they won’t let you teach, regardless of the courses you took. This directly rewards the students who take ‘basket weaving’ and punishes the students who take calculus and linear algebra. And I have an arts degree!
I don't know if the information is unavailable, or the article writer is just being incoherent (suspect the latter), but it would be nice to know which of the CUNY 4 year colleges this happened at, and what class they were in. I attend one of the CUNY 4 year colleges (as an adult career-changer, who already has a bachelor's and professional degree), and have attended 2 others on cross-registration permits. There are a LOT of very competent students in the science and math courses, and the psychology major also requires a serious statistics course. I don't believe that these 200 students were a representative sample of freshman at a CUNY 4 year college. It sounds like they were students in a very elementary math course, that would only be taken by students with a very weak background in math.
Of course it's a serious problem that even this subset of students has such poor math skills, but the article is giving a misleading impression of the scale of the problem, making it sound like 90% of the students at whichever college this is can't do basic middle school-level math.
I have long held that the ONLY justification for a Federal Education department is to create a national standardized (but optional on the states) set of qualifications for a nationally recognized and accepted grade equivalency / transfer system. The authority to do so would be under the regulating interstate commerce. Each state / school district would be allowed to adopt any standard they wanted and follow any curriculum they wanted. However, to receive federal funds, the child would need to be tested and then placed at the appropriate level.
Also, I would like to see a minimum for acceptance into any federal grant or student loan program to pay for College. If you can’t perform X, Y and Z, then either attend remedial classes on your own nickel or attend a trade school. Not everyone is cut out for college.
I know ... it will never happen but one can dream.
well, now that explains the minions working at the white house who cannot even count the jobs we have lost since they took over.
This was a real conversation at a burger joint on the east cost with a teen / early twenty something behind the counter. We are jumping into the middle of the conversation here. I finally had to give up on the cashier and asked for the manager.
Cashier: U axing four fries?
Me: No, would I like to have more than four fries and please do not cut them with an ax
Cashier: big or small
Me: What? The ax? I don’t want you to use an ax.
Cashier: What ax?
Me: The one you want to cut the fries with?
Cashier: Dats whak cus homie dont do dat
Me: Does your manager speak English?
.....
My mom taught me how to count change back to folks when I got my paper route. I was 10. I had a little old lady who would make me count her change. She wasn't mean, she was a wonderful lady; all she wanted to do was ensure I knew what I was due, and she got her proper change (which she usually handed back as my tip, anyway). Of course, this was in the days where daily (well 6 of 7, anyway) delivery of the newspaper was around five dollars for the entire month.
They were forced to MEMORIZE them.
I have noticed that there are quite a few people who can temporarily memorize facts about math but it's basically like pouring water in a sieve because they don't ever really have a full understanding of the concepts.
For instance someone studying for a test might be able to memorize the formula for adding fractions. But the majority will forget this after the test, whereas someone who understands what fractions mean might not even need the formula to do simple problems, and yet will also be more likely to remember it.
Didn’t everyone use to memorize the multiplication tables up to 15?
No. Perhaps you were lucky to get a school that did, but my recollection is that most schools did not require full memorization of the times tables beyond 10 x 10. What would have been really useful is if schools taught the various tricks that can be used to mentally multiply all two-digit numbers, but I doubt many of them did that either.
What? You probably missed out on the "Dick and Jane" books!
How can you possible justify that under the clause that allows congress "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes"?
Don't you think your stretching things a bit?
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