“I have settled on it as a shibboleth to determine the members of the mathematical tribe”
I hope you aren’t saying that if you don’t know trigonometry you don’t need to know algebra.
I look at it this way: without the ability to frame problems that can be solved algebraically, you are doomed to the lowest rungs of employment, with a high degree of certainty.
Kids do not understand what Wayne state is doing to them. In the short term, they think it’s great. (Party on, garth) In the long term, they are drone labor, for the most part.
Sad for kids for whom basic math will remain a mystery.
I agree, algebra is a basic, essential skill that every person should have. I don’t know about you, though, but I had learned everything I needed to know about algebra, along with quadratics, trig, exponents and logarithms, and geometry, by the time I finished high school.
The only math I learned in university that is actually applicable to daily life was statistics. Not that I have ever done any statistical calculations since that source, but at least I have an understanding of what various types of statistics actually mean.