gotta tell ya, in all my years at work i have needed and used extensively, geometry, trig, statistics and physics, but i have never needed algebra to do any job... lucky me gotta tell ya, in all my years at work i have needed and used extensively, geometry, trig, statistics and physics, but i have never needed algebra to do any job... lucky meThere are less than 10 useful formulas in Algebra.
I don’t find learning useless things interesting at all.
Funny, how I got C’s and D’s in Algebra but received A’s in Mechanical Drafting where I used some formulas.
Supposedly Algebra makes you a better thinker.
I was chess champion in high school and didn’t feel the effects of algebra....evuh.
You are confusing capacity for abstract thinking with wanting to learn. When you have a class full of people who can learn everything about the operation of their smart phones, you have people who certainly have the capacity to learn algebra.
It is just a matter if they will put in the effort to learn algebra that the put into learning how to use their smart phone or how to play a particular video game. Part of teaching is to give exams that motivate them to learn enough so that they can move on. One of the things education does is separate out those who are willing to do what is necessary to have a better life from those who do not care enough.
My best friend of almost 40 years is a carpenter and owns his own contracting business, raking in around 3oo g’s a year with his 10th grade education.
There is no need to teach him to use geometry to find C when he can do so much faster with a framing square. Algebra isn’t needed to figure square footage or payroll.
Dumbing down requirements until no one fails is a pathetic plan and just avoids reality.
The US refuses to “track” students who display no aptitude for “intellectual education” into vocational or technical training, or anything that might make them employable. It is a fact of life that half the population has an IQ on the down side of 100, but many children who are not geniuses have valuable lives, skills, talents and a great deal to offer. Why can’t we spend resources on training that is relevant to their aptitudes and lives? We are too proud and too PC to admit the obvious, much to the detriment of public school students and the nation.
That said, most children can learn basic mathematics if the subject is taught competently, and as others have written, learning math is mostly a matter of discipline over time. (Even computer math-learning software works if used properly). The US is far behind many “Third World” countries in math and science education, mostly because we set low standards and have too many incompetent teachers. Most, though not all, decent paying jobs seem to be in fields that do require math skills. Too many adults in America can’t even do their own tax returns, understand the falsified unemployment stats, etc.
It is not necessary to know that the contour integral about a function analytic in the plane except for a finite number of isolated singularities is two pi i times the sum of the enclosed residues to flip a burger. To design a decent digital filter yes, to flip a burger no.
People who are good at math have strong deductive reasoning skills. They are natural conservatives and for the most part not intellectually lazy. That is why liberals hate mathematics. That’s it in a nutshell.
I’ve always been amazed at the numbers of people who are unable to perform Algebra by the end of high school, when my class was able to complete it prior to high school.
Of course, today, most kids have difficulty writing or even reading cursive handwriting.
Algebra is impossible without a decent teacher, nothing makes sense, confusing, maddening. With the right teacher Algebra is not hard to learn, the better the teacher the easier it is.
My problem with Algebra in college was that it was taught by a grad student from (I believe) somewhere in the middle east with English as a second language, and no one could understand him.
But then I read the book, “Flowers For Algebra” and it all made sense.
Cliff Robertson started out as a liberal, gradually became a staunch/ultra/die-hard/far-right conservative, then slowly turned back into a Democrat. It made me cry.
I didn't vote for Jon Corzine, but he had some laudable standards for education. Under him, new standards were phased in, here in NJ, for high school graduation. I believe that now incoming high school students are required to take math through algebra II -- three years of mathematics. There are similar standards for the sciences as well.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge”. Proverbs 1:7.
I just graduated from high school. I can now count to 21, naked.
1) don't know how to open a bank account
2) don't know how much money they will end up paying out in total on their student loan
3) don't know about investing and saving money when you are young instead of waiting till the last minute
4) don't know how mortgages work and how to get one.
5) don't know why it's important to have a good credit score and how to achieve one.
6) don't know how to stay out of debt.
If you go to the grocery store, you do algebra. If you have to do laundry, you do algebra. If you have a loan, you do algebra.
And if you fish or go to the beach, you witness Trig and engage in. Also true if you sail or watch the ocean.
If you watch the stars, you do astronomy.
If you golf, you do physics.
And if you listen to how close a storm or anything else is, you are engaging in the Doppler effect.
What is wrong with people that they don’t want to learn about the applications of the things that have sound basis in math? It’s ONLY math.
I have to find the article from a few years ago, but it correlated success in high school math and success in college. Of the students who failed to complete Algebra (and went no further in math) in high school, less than 2% graduated college.
My 4- and 2-year-olds are learning algebra. Not kidding.
It’s disguised as a game, but they’re learning the essence nonetheless.
DragonBox: http://dragonboxapp.com/
The problem isn’t inability to learn, it’s unwillingness to.