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‘A Bankrupt Concept of Math’: Some Educators Argue Calculus Should Be Dethroned
The 74 via Yahoo ^ | March 13, 2023 | Jo Napolitano

Posted on 03/13/2023 1:30:37 PM PDT by grundle

Successful completion of high school calculus has long been an unofficial must-have for those seeking admission to the nation’s top colleges: The course has, for decades, served as a signal to admissions officers that a student’s coursework has been robust.

But some in education say it’s time to reconsider this de facto requirement: Many schools — particularly those serving large numbers of Black, Hispanic or low-income students — don’t offer the course. And even when they do, it’s of dubious value, they say.

“High school calculus is a complete waste of time and a form of torture,” said Alan Garfinkel, professor of integrative biology and physiology and medicine at UCLA. “The view … that math is a bunch of symbolic expressions, and you bang on them with tricks to get other symbolic expressions, is a bankrupt concept of math, dating from the 19th century.”

The course, as it’s often taught at the high school level, is inaccessible and often perceived as irrelevant to students’ interests, critics say. Just 16% of high school graduates earned credit for calculus in 2019, according to data culled by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a statistic no doubt shaped by its unavailability.

Only 52% of schools with high student of color enrollment offered the course in 2017-18 compared to 76% of schools with low student of color enrollment, according to a 2021 report from the Learning Policy Institute.

(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: alangarfinkel; astronomy; calculus; donatefreerepublic; physics; science; stringtheory
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To: grundle

I’m sure the Chinese do not agree. But they’re happy we’re dumbing education down.


61 posted on 03/13/2023 2:41:30 PM PDT by beethovenfan (The REAL Great Reset will be when Jesus returns. )
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To: grundle
Keep 'em poor, stupid, and voting Democrat.

Added plus if you can get them castrated.

62 posted on 03/13/2023 2:47:57 PM PDT by Salman (It's not a slippery slope if it was part of the program all along. )
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To: Mariner

“ Civilizational suicide.”

Idiocracy is a documentary.


63 posted on 03/13/2023 2:51:35 PM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (“Racist” is the new “Nazi”.)
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To: D Rider
Engineers don’t need calculus. That’s what computers are for.

There might be just a shadow of truth in that. Computers can do most of the work and get the correct answers nearly all of the time.

Where you really need the math is when computers don't get the right answer. Unless you know what is happening you won't even recognize a wrong answer, until it's too late at least.

64 posted on 03/13/2023 2:53:10 PM PDT by seowulf (Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty, and dies with chaos...Will Durant)
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To: grundle

This is the typical liberal approach. If minorities have problems with something, like math, standardized testing etc., then eliminate that something or lower the standards. It has to be the dumbest approach to anything, but then they are leftists/democrats.


65 posted on 03/13/2023 2:58:32 PM PDT by falcon99 ( )
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To: Fledermaus; Governor Dinwiddie
Yes, Newton is credited with the Calculus, although from what I have read, it was developed around the same time by a German mathematician named Gottfried Leibniz. In fact, I believe the notation used today is that of Leibniz, not Newton.

It's all Greek to me anyway. $:-)

66 posted on 03/13/2023 3:02:30 PM PDT by Joe Brower ("Might we not live in a nobler dream than this?" -- John Ruskin)
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To: grundle

Jaime Escalante would beg to differ from this guy’s opinion.


67 posted on 03/13/2023 3:06:47 PM PDT by shotgun
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To: grundle
I would say the single most important problem we have in our country today is that nobody knows enough calculus.

Specifically, y = exp(x) is unknown by just about everyone, expecially people who have not taken calculus.

If people understood y = exp(x) then they would be terribly fearful of inflation greater than 3 percent.

They would never allow year-on-year deficit spending.

If they understood it, they would be prodigious savers, economizers of everything, and would avoid credit cards and procrastination of all kinds.

They would be able to tell the difference between thousand, million, billion, and trillion, which they apparently are unable to do now.

They would be hard to fool or lie to.

People like this biologist who want us to abandon calculus are just Cloward-Piven afficianados in yet another guise, trying to get us to abandon the pillars of civilization, and tricking us into pouring sand into the gas tank of our great economy and culture.

68 posted on 03/13/2023 3:07:23 PM PDT by caddie (We must all become Trump, starting now!)
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To: PallMal

Adding to my last post:

I noticed that calculus is required for biology because one of my kids considered a biology major but balked at the calculus courses that were required.


69 posted on 03/13/2023 3:07:28 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes
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To: grundle
But some in education say it’s time to reconsider this de facto requirement: Many schools — particularly those serving large numbers of Black, Hispanic or low-income students — don’t offer the course. And even when they do, it’s of dubious value, they say.

It’s not offered be cause no one demands it. No one demands it because it is either too difficult or the students just can’t do it. Considering the abysmal proficiency in basic arithmetic by both groomer teachers and students, this is to be expected.

70 posted on 03/13/2023 3:07:30 PM PDT by ConservativeInPA ("How did you go bankrupt?" Bill asked. "Two ways," Mike said. "Gradually and then suddenly." )
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To: Trumpet 1

I had 3 semesters of Calc, majored in biochem and microbiology. When I got my first job in business I fell in love with that and never looked back. I don’t recall using Calc in anything but knowing what it could be used for was useful. When I finally reached senior management I could go ask our engineering department to run some numbers for me. They could generate information that was useful to management even if they didn’t all completely understand how we generated it. More people need to understand what you can do with Calc than actually know how to do calculus if that makes any sense. I never liked calculus class but I loved the concept of what all you could do with it. How, when, and where do we teach that? I don’t know, but I’m satisfied that engineers know it and they are a useful asset just like the rest of your fellow employees, everybody has a part.


71 posted on 03/13/2023 3:10:21 PM PDT by MrKatykelly (Obama was the proof of concept puppet.)
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To: MrKatykelly

I did well in Calculus, but we were never told what you could do with it.


72 posted on 03/13/2023 3:12:02 PM PDT by gitmo (If your theology doesn't become your biography, what good is it?)
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To: Rummyfan
"Generally speaking, you need Algebra I and II and geometry and trig before you get to calculus. I'm guessing the schools referenced above don't have a very strong math curriculum period."

The article doesn't mention trigonometry. Can't help wondering if the author has Calculus and Trigonometry confused.
73 posted on 03/13/2023 3:26:22 PM PDT by clearcarbon (Fraudulent elections have consequences.)
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To: grundle
Alan Garfinkel, professor of integrative biology and physiology and medicine at UCLA.

Wow...I didn't know he changed careers.


74 posted on 03/13/2023 3:31:17 PM PDT by DoodleBob ( Gravity’s waiting period is about 9.8 m/s²)
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To: 6SJ7; AdmSmith; AFPhys; Arkinsaw; allmost; aristotleman; autumnraine; bajabaja; ...
[snip] Many schools — particularly those serving large numbers of Black, Hispanic or low-income students — don’t offer the course. And even when they do, it’s of dubious value, they say.

"High school calculus is a complete waste of time and a form of torture," said Alan Garfinkel, professor of integrative biology and physiology and medicine at UCLA. [/snip]

Commercial Photography
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75 posted on 03/13/2023 3:33:42 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: caddie

Anyone who calls themselves an academic but wants to end the teaching of calculus is a pathetic joke. If there was a place I could move to in America where such thinking was unconscionable I would want to live there. There is an eloquence of Calculus, and all math. Math, chemistry, biology, are all discipline that help us to think and explore the universe we exist in. They allow us to think beyond ourselves. They allow us to see spirituality and the building blocks of creation at a fundamental level (my personal opinion).

But in the current culture it’s more important to be able to post to Instagram and know what twerking is.

We’ve had a societal choice equivalent to a decision between Rembrandt vs paint-by-numbers matadors on velvet, and we chose the latter. So I guess why not dumb it down even further..


76 posted on 03/13/2023 3:36:08 PM PDT by neverevergiveup
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To: Mariner

Exactly.


77 posted on 03/13/2023 3:36:23 PM PDT by Rusty0604 (Desperately looking for new conspiracy theories as all the old ones have come true)
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To: bankwalker

Wrong Garfunkel.


78 posted on 03/13/2023 3:37:12 PM PDT by Rusty0604 (Desperately looking for new conspiracy theories as all the old ones have come true)
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To: Westbrook

Exactly
Make the Students stupid so as not to embarrass the teachers.


79 posted on 03/13/2023 3:40:10 PM PDT by DeWalt (Nostalgia ain't what it used to be.)
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To: IrishBrigade

Algebra is easy if you follow the rules in exact order.

To be fair, I was good at math but can’t spell. Everyone has different skills and abilities.

But shutting off math to all just because some kids can’t or won’t learn it will ruin our country.


80 posted on 03/13/2023 3:42:30 PM PDT by Rusty0604 (Desperately looking for new conspiracy theories as all the old ones have come true)
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