> would de-emphasize calculus <
Good idea. Unless a person is going into engineering or physics, calculus really isn’t needed. I’d instead emphasize algebra, as it provides training in logical thinking if nothing else.
> reject the idea that some children are naturally gifted <
Horrible idea. If a school can offer varsity sports, it should also offer varsity (honors) academics.
Calculus can easily be done with an Excel spreadsheet. Like a sucker I sat through those classes with one problem covering 3 walls!
Calculus comes well after algebra. Very few take calculus at all, and very, very few take it in high school. In the 70s, in a high school with 3500 students, my calculus class had 12 students.
And yes, we SHOULD encourage those with gifts in a subject - be it math or history - to advance as far as they can. As the saying goes, you can’t get taller by cutting others off at the knee. No POC - or perhaps, since Asians often excel at math, I should be HONEST and say no blacks - get smarter by holding other people back! And how racist is it to suggest blacks can’t learn math? Had a black co-worker with a master’s degree in accounting. I’ve worked with black engineers.
NOT ALL BLACKS ARE GHETTO BLACKS! More than anything else, it is the ghetto culture and government (and liberal) contempt that hold blacks back.
Our civilization depends on our cultivating the very smartest among us, to achieve their full potential, so that we produce lots of leading-edge technology. Otherwise some other country will reduce us to a vassal state.
> would de-emphasize calculus <
While agreeing with your comment that calculus is not so necessary, I found that when I took calculus, I really, really learned algebra. When I took Physical Chemistry, I really, really learned calculus. Then these capabilities become integrated into one’s view of reality and, without realizing it, help one to understand what is observed.
In my mind, the most valuable math-type class is statistics. So many frauds are pulled on people by lying with statistics.
> reject the idea that some children are naturally gifted <
Wow! We see the ignorance of the politicians in this comment. They are saying that no-one is a genius. But... Five year olds are composing complicated musical compositions, for example; other five year olds are making change playing Monopoly. I have observed these minds to be especially gifted, the mind of a/an: musician, artist, engineer, mathematician. (These are the really creative types.) Both the needy and the gifted should be accommodated with an appropriate educational opportunity.
Mathematicians have, for decades, struggled with the premise that all students should be able to learn mathematics. Reality is that only a few excel. But the mathematicians can’t live with that.
There was only one Mozart, Bach, Beethoven... one von Braun, one Einstein, one Newton... Plus a number not as gifted. Where would civilization be without the gifted.
This is what I tried to use; If a school can offer varsity sports, it should also offer varsity (honors) academics. (Freeper Leaning Right , 11/6/21)