Posted on 07/29/2012 6:05:38 AM PDT by reaganaut1
A TYPICAL American school day finds some six million high school students and two million college freshmen struggling with algebra. In both high school and college, all too many students are expected to fail. Why do we subject American students to this ordeal? I’ve found myself moving toward the strong view that we shouldn’t.
My question extends beyond algebra and applies more broadly to the usual mathematics sequence, from geometry through calculus. State regents and legislators — and much of the public — take it as self-evident that every young person should be made to master polynomial functions and parametric equations.
There are many defenses of algebra and the virtue of learning it. Most of them sound reasonable on first hearing; many of them I once accepted. But the more I examine them, the clearer it seems that they are largely or wholly wrong — unsupported by research or evidence, or based on wishful logic. (I’m not talking about quantitative skills, critical for informed citizenship and personal finance, but a very different ballgame.)
This debate matters. Making mathematics mandatory prevents us from discovering and developing young talent. In the interest of maintaining rigor, we’re actually depleting our pool of brainpower. I say this as a writer and social scientist whose work relies heavily on the use of numbers. My aim is not to spare students from a difficult subject, but to call attention to the real problems we are causing by misdirecting precious resources.
The toll mathematics takes begins early. To our nation’s shame, one in four ninth graders fail to finish high school. In South Carolina, 34 percent fell away in 2008-9, according to national data released last year; for Nevada, it was 45 percent. Most of the educators I’ve talked with cite algebra as the major academic reason.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Actually, “Find X, here it is” is correct.
If it was “Find the value of X...
I have an MS in engineering, so I am not some nitpicking social “scientist.” I just understand the difference between what is stated and what is desired.
You have my admiration for recognizing that your children were missing a major part of their basic education and taking steps to correct it. ( Very expensive and a great sacrifice on your part.)
Like BobL, I didn't trust the teachers in the government schools and from interviewing principals and teachers in private schools I concluded they were dittzes, too! From the time they were babies I worked on phonics and letter recognition, and counting. They were **years** ahead of their contemporaries. Two finished B.S. degrees in mathematics at the age of 18.
Parents, like you, yldstrk and BobL, are to be commended for recognizing the **you** are the ones who must stand before God and be judged for how well you prepared your children for life.
By the way....I think every government teacher should be immediately given the GED. If they fail, they should be fired. Most would fail the math section. And....I think every government teacher should be required to take and pass with a “B” Calculus I ( the **same** courses as the engineers, science, and math majors) . No, most don't need calculus for what they do, but it would assure that: 1_) they had a high enough IQ to deserve the job, and 1) that they wouldn't be passing on their math phobia to their students.
“So on top of exorbitant private school tuition, we are paying taxes and for private tutors just to get middle school math basics.”
It’s really your complaint about paying taxes (for the schools). You’re more than welcome to complain about it - but I don’t. I NEVER expected anything of value in return - you imply that you did (hence your complaint), rather than just accepting the tax as the cost of living in this country and realizing it’s just another transfer payment scheme, which has no benefit to you, just like most of the income tax.
I knew that I would never see a dime of benefit from “school taxes” from the moment I moved out of my last apartment.
Glad you like math’s “real answers” as you diss “pretty” writing. There is, however, a real answer as to when to use effected and affected.
And you got it wrong.
Writing also has real answers.
We send far to many ‘precious resources’ to college when they can’t do basic math. Where they waste 4 years.
In my opinion many teachers don’t know how to teach the subject. In high school I just made a passing grade in algebra. However, in algebra I in college, I had a teacher with a masters degree in the subject. During each class she went through the one problem she assigned for homework, She took the next entire class period to explain that one problem going back to the very basic principles of algebra. By the end of the semester, I think everybody in the class mastered the subject. I received an A.
Without that course I never would have passed pharmacology in dental school
Most high school graduates today cannot make change at McDonalds when the computer is down.
What is the gross margin return on investment for this? “No man is an island.” Two important lessons I learned outside of school.
Don’t confuse them with “real answers” regarding grammar and writing.
We all know that only engineering and mathematics and physics deal with the real world.
Writing meaningful sentences is just a bunch of artsy fartsy prettiness. The humanities are just a bunch of girly airy fairy nonsense
We know that because Freepers proclaim it again and again and again.
Science good. Humanities useless.
Find the value of X? Find X? Who cares about such petty pretty differences. For an engineer, you sound like one of those airy fair humanities drones. /s
I know I shouldn’t laugh but... that WAS very funny.
We were required our first two years of high school to take college prep courses. By the time one reached his/her Junior year they pretty well knew if they planned to further their education or pursue some other field. So if you decided to attend college...you had two years of prep behind you which was excellent. If you didn’t go to college... you STILL had two years of prep behind you which didn’t hurt at all. I think it is a good thing.
I know I shouldn’t laugh but... that WAS very funny.
We were required our first two years of high school to take college prep courses. By the time one reached his/her Junior year they pretty well knew if they planned to further their education or pursue some other field. So if you decided to attend college...you had two years of prep behind you which was excellent. If you didn’t go to college... you STILL had two years of prep behind you which didn’t hurt at all. I think it is a good thing.
I know I shouldn’t laugh but... that WAS very funny.
We were required our first two years of high school to take college prep courses. By the time one reached his/her Junior year they pretty well knew if they planned to further their education or pursue some other field. So if you decided to attend college...you had two years of prep behind you which was excellent. If you didn’t go to college... you STILL had two years of prep behind you which didn’t hurt at all. I think it is a good thing.
+6 is pretty high, that would put the seventh grader in calculus. What did you do for eighth grade? We have a Saxon calculus book for the 9th grader but I don’t see much point in going beyond that - might as well branch out into physics, computational theory, and other modern disciplines.
I graduated from high school in 1959. The only reason I didn’t flunk algebra and geometry was because my aunt was a big shot in the order of nuns that taught us. I loved Latin, history and lit. I went to college on my GI bill and graduated magna cum laude. I excelled in French and geology. In my 70 years I can’t think of a single incident in my life where I’ve needed algebra. I use arithmetic every day.
it helped me find my way back to my hotel from a bar in Toledo, Spain!
That sounds about right!
They outlawed the memorization of multiplication facts some years ago, because some students found it impossible to memorize. Now they wonder why high school students cannot find a common denominator nor solve a rational equation. Teachers’ unions did this to our young people, since the unions OK the textbooks.
Some pretty fancy algebra going on right there.
Amen. If it isn’t EASY...they don’t want it. Tough it out and maybe you’ll learn something constructive and... maybe the parents should stop defending the kids rights all the time. I’d rather be tough on my kids and when they are grown adults we can look back and say yeah, we were tough on them but... look at them now. Parenting isn’t for sissies and if the parents don’t act responsible then the teachers can’t do their job and the kids will just be pushed through till graduation. Then guess what??? Good luck to them.
Let me just add that the people that I’ve dealt with on this are PERFECTLY NORMAL. Their educations got them to where they are, and most went to public schools - so why should they expect problems with public schools today?
I was different. I saw my sister get wrecked by the same “top-tier” public school that I went to (she got to me a test subject of their “new-math”), so I had some suspicions. So then I read Thomas Sowell’s books, even before my kids existed. Those two things are what convinced me that I could NEVER drop my kids in public schools. But how many would-be parents ever do that?
So, yes, I am abnormal. But what upset me was the near-universal attitude of others that there was nothing wrong with the public school system - even though their kids were meandering around well into their 20s (in some cases), trying to find a career. What I said had no impact...when it comes to me or a smiling teacher who says all is fine, the teacher wins, every time.
In your case, I have no clue if anyone told you how bad it is...which is why I don’t hold it against people I don’t know. But I do get a bit annoyed at people that complain after being warned of the what’s in store for their kids, if they continue down the “normal” path.
LOL. The sailor uniform was the first giveaway. Trust me. A sailor always knows where the bars are located. Even though I didn’t speak Italian, sinistra was the key word.
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