Calculus is excellent for determining the area of strange shaped object with curves. Not everything is expressed in square shapes. This is where calculus shines.
As a retired Math teacher, I can say with some confidence that if it wasn’t for Math in general (and perhaps Calculus in particular) we’d still be living in trees.
In many, if not most school districts, Calculus is an AP class. Most students don't even qualify to enroll. I know, I know, AP classes are racist.
How many of those schools have zero students achieving basic competency on math, much less algebra, geometry or trigonometry? Don't kill calculus just because it shames the "we was kangs" crowd.
The one year of high school calculus was enough to let me skip the first two quarters in college and gor directly to Calculus III.
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.
Interesting that they quote a biology / medical professor on the importance of calculus. Whatever... the way it has been taught produced scientists and engineers who split the atom, got us to the moon and back, and developed modern telecommunications. So obviously it must go!
Maf be raysis!
I guess this plays into the maomao’s hands, but requiring mastery of high math is a pretty good proxy for IQ, and a means of separating the wheat from the chaff.
Admittedly, people exist who succeed in language-based fields, or in fine arts, yet lack “math sense”. It would be ridiculous for Schools of Art, Music, etc., to require calculus. For any university program involving science, medicine, engineering, etc., admitting students who can’t handle mathematics is basically cruel; they will not succeed.
If high schools “serving” mostly “minority” students do not offer, or properly teach, higher math, that is something the school boards and superintendents should answer for. If a school has only a handful of aspiring math students, set them up with a dvd or online course. Oh no, problem solved without dumbing down.
Higher math is racist. It’s got to go!
I’m a registered professional civil engineer. I didn’t take calculus in high school. I completed Calc 1, 2 and 3 and Differential Equations in college. It’s not necessary to take calculus in high school to be a successful engineer, but you damn sure better be on track for taking it your first year of college.
The DUMBING DOWN continues...
When I studied for my degree in Computer Science, I had thought that the required basic calculus and multivariable calculus classes that I had to take were a waste of my time. I was interested in database theory and systems design, so why would I ever need that stuff?
Today I use it all the time for programming neural networks for deep learning and pattern recognition: solving systems of equations with partial derivatives, computing gradients, etc.
Calculus is important if you want to get into anything related to AI.
Yet they want to require a foreign language.
high school is supposed to prepare you for college.
If it doesn’t prepare you, then you career options are limited to one that either don’t need a degree or don’t need a serious degree.
The best case scenario is you do well in high school and have a firm foundation to go in ANY direction you choose once you have that figured out.
I’m sure the Chinese do not agree. But they’re happy we’re dumbing education down.
Added plus if you can get them castrated.
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.
Jaime Escalante would beg to differ from this guy’s opinion.
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.
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.