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 ...
"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."
Not surprisingly, this statement comes from a professional writer. :)
An incompetent professional writer. He compared what he claims to be the highest form of reasoning to something that teaches reasoning. Nobody said that algebra is the highest form of reasoning. Nor did anyone say that teaching algebra is the most effective way to teach reasoning.
More likely, Richard Cohen knew exactly what he was writing and knew it was deceptive. That is not professionalism. Excuse me, in MSM journalism it may be that the art of deception is professionalism.
Is Calculus possible without algebra? Could Einstein have developed the theory of general relativity without algebra? Could we have computer chips, processors and nuclear technologies without algebra?
If the answer to those questions is no, I'm sure there are other technologies that couldn't have been invented or developed without algebra. Thereby Richard Cohen demonstrating his gross ignorance, or worse, a sloppy attempt at deception.
"Since that time, modern algebra—also called abstract algebra—has continued to develop. Important new results have been discovered, and the subject has found applications in all branches of mathematics and in many of the sciences, as well." History of AlgebraAlgebra
The version I remember had E.E. -> C.S. or BusAdmin.
Man why can't normal people (Republican or conservative) only be allowed to talk at all. I am so sick of stupidity. I am not the best in Algebra (I took Alg 1, Geometry, Alg 2, and Alg 3/Trig) in high school and Alg 1 and Statistics in college. I am not a fan of Algebra, but even I know that half the battle is SHOWING UP FOR CLASS!!!! This girl is just plain worthless. I wonder if she has passed any other classes. The next article will be is history really necessary? I can't stand this liberal writer right now. I guess I am frustrated today. Maybe it is something else, but this writer hit a nerve in me today.
Or as we Algebrites ("Algebrights?") say: 5Q + 5Q*
TS
(*) You're welcome.
If you know Algebra, you can calculate at what temperature a Celsius or Fahrenheit thermometer reads the same (as you are reaching for an extra sweater).
I use that one a lot too. One thing calculator people do not realize is they can't spot it when they've made a small error. We can, we just look at the answer and say "That can't be right". I do not trust myself on a calculator so I wrote a program to read a file of numbers and then add them. That way I can double check the numbers in the file and then let the computer add them. Every month I have to (used to have to) add a huge bunch of numbers. It was a drag.
No, it's lim (GPA -> 2.0) ECE = LAS,
where ECE = Electrical and Computer Engineering
and LAS = Liberal Arts and Sciences
I ment to say point 66 (.66), good catch Dave.
Advanced math classes? You, sir, have far more courage than I. Trigonometry? I quit when I got caught at bigamy!
I ain't gonna be buying any pizzas from you!
Did you mean to say something else?
I ment to say point 66 (.66), good catch Dave.
That doesn't work either. 22.8/0.66=34.545454
SD
I hope not.
Not but it is the kind of math I'd like to use at my bar, invisible markups! Great Idea, I need to get a calculator that does that so I can fool my customers. LOL.
A state requirement that all persons 14-16 attend school, and that all such persons pass "algebra", is an absurdity, since 75% of them (at least) cannot.>>>>>>>>>>>
That is absurd, I was required to take algebra in high school and there were very few who were incapable of learning it. If the failure rate is anywhere near what you say it is then what is needed is a real teacher.
Muhamed Al Gebra:
He is being charged with carrying weapons of math instruction.
This is an old article, but I couldn't find it on FR.
In the article, Cohen admits that he doesn't understand algebra, can't even do percentages, and just doesn't get it. Though he admits his own stupidity in elementary mathematics, this liberal thinks himself qualified to opine on tax rates, budgets, economic development, inflation, monetary policy, military issues, etc.
BTW, Gabriela skipped 62 of the 93 days during her final semester. Maybe that would explain a large part of her failure.
http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-dropout30jan30,0,3211437.story?page=3
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He definitely reminds me of the journalism students in my algebra sections when I was a teaching assistant in the 1970's at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. The journalism school was in a building connected to the School of Mathematics (still is, so far as I know), and we saw many of their students hanging around. As a group, they were the most arrogant, stupid, invincibly ignorant clowns in my classes. Almost as dense as the education majors (who at least were not so full of themselves as the aspiring journalists).
So was I, and there were also few who were incapable of learning it.
That was in 1965, and the average IQ in my high school was 112.
What IQ do you think is required to master abstract thinking, and what do you think is the average IQ of high school students in America?
More importantly, what do you think the 25%ile IQ is in American high schools?
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