A large fraction of the population does not have the capacity for abstract thinking to do Algebra II, and I don't want to stamp them all as "high school drop-outs", at least not until a meaningful junior high school diploma is created, certifying that someone can read and do arithmetic through fractions.
Someone needs to look up ‘substitute variable’.Algebra II doesn’t cause people to do better at all these diverse activities, instead people who can do well in Algebra and have the motivation to try are the people who will do well at other things.
LOL! I barely passed Algebra I.
Sadly, Math was the only subject that kept me off the honor roll in High School.
High school honor roll and college Dean's list here, and I struggled through high school Algebra. In the end I had to drop Trig - too many cricket sounds going on in my head.
Interestingly I loved Geometry. For some reason I found it very "concrete." My degree is in English...connection?
Hmmm, my kids had Algebra 2 wired by third grade (age 10).
Amazing what you can do with Saxon Math (using the old, hardcover books though)...if you’re willing to make the kid SIT DOWN and actually do problems (all problems) without a calculator.
And I’m not the only one around here with those results.
Yes, they're called liberals.
Algebra II is not hard. I went to a private high school, and until reading this argument I thought public schoolers were required to take Algebra II just like I was.
Our local public school requires Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry and one other Math course that meets either Math Models with Application (prior to enrollment in Algebra II) or any Math course with Algebra II as a prerequisite.
By the look of the drop out rates and the general ignorance of the populace at large, maybe they should just stick to basic readin’, writin’ and ‘rithmatic...
I had it on my wall for years.
Whenever one of our engineers made a stupid mistake, I'd point to it and say, “ahh, I see you graduated from Rosie U.”
I was gone for a couple of weeks and it disappeared. The quote may be gone but the ignorance remains.
They ought to -- if not there should be alternatives for them to move into a different stream. I believe calculus should be on the books for high school students
I would suggest that anyone (especially an intelligent person by any objective measure) who is not capable of taking Algebra II because of their inability to understand abstract principles simply doesn't belong in the same academic program as someone who can do the work. Both students belong in high school, but it is obvious that they are not destined for the same career path and therefore it is a crime to pretend that they are.
As an employer I testify that a high school diploma is WORTHLESS as proof that someone can even read! Algebra II? Geeze! I would have been thrilled to get high school graduate applicants who could do long division! So....I have a better idea:
1) Get government completely out of the education business on every level. Government should have NOTHING to do with educating kids!
2) Charles Murray is right! We should move toward privately administered qualifying exams. If a kid passes a well recognized and accepted private test showing that he has mastered Algebra II then that would mean something, not only to the kid and his parents, but to employers and college admission administrators as well.
I graduated in 1988. We had to get two math credits, to include Algebra I, and II, then Geometry, Trig, then Calc.
I took Algebra I in 8th grade, II in 9th, and Geometry in 10th. No more math for me!
So they are going to start teaching what used to be 7th grade material in High School ?? What a sad state of affairs our education system is in, abolish the whole damned thing and start over.
This proposal would be fine but for one problem. We do not have anyone in todays colleges or universities who can take the theoretical math and apply it to any practical application. Students are not being shown what the real live practical applications of math can do.
Algebra II is a filter process. Somebody who cannot deal with Algebra II is unlikely to be able to do well in college or in any job that requires abstract thinking.
I disagree with making it a requirement, because so many low-IQ kids will flunk it that it will create overwhelming pressure to dumb it down to the point where IQ-80 kids can pass.
As others have noted, the solution is to have a viable Junior High School diploma which certifies that the holder can read and write tolerably, and do math through fractions and percents. Have school end for them at 16, and have them shift to job training.
I would say that to do Algebra and Calculus requires the ability to develop abstract thinking. Hence, this is not good for the left. We can’t have young people develop this ability because they may actually think about things Obama says instead of just hearing “hope and change”. For myself, I did okay with Algebra I, II and Trig in high school. What kicked my butt in College was Statistics and Discrete Math.
They’re going to have a hard time for requiring Algebra II for high school when they don’t bother requiring fractions for graduating elementary school or the times table for leaving third grade....
Stuff Algebra, teach them the mathematics of basic finance. Maybe then they will understand why it isn’t good to borrow 800 dollars a week when you only make 100.