Your examples are what I refer to as everyday arithmetic and we need to DRILL that into every students' head. But that's not algebra.
Posted on 04/05/2011 5:39:25 AM PDT by reaganaut1
Delete those courses, surely you jest.
I’m not a mathematician, but I liked algebra I (in middle school), II, pre-calc, calc and geometry. I excelled in geometry in HS, but did quite well in all of them. Did just fine in Calc I and II in college, but 2nd semester chemistry pretty much dinged me out of engineering. It was one of those weed-out courses and I hated it; nothing sparks learning like taking a class in a room with 300 fellow classmates and a professor droning on in barely understandable English.
Later on I picked up a lot of applied stats without much problem and wondered why my classmates struggled with it. I suspect my music training at a youngish age helped with all things mathematical.
It's also highly advisable that one be very well grounded in various branches of mathematics before attempting to design/develop computer systems and applications, whether for a "job" or for one's own use.
Anyone doing practical construction and/or repair around the house needs some working understanding of geometry and engineering principles.
Just a few thoughts which came very readily to hand.
Uh,,,,you are an employee, arent you? You have a job specific task,,,you are not required to think, obviously.
Whence come the teachers for this? From the local state-run Marxist indoctrination camps handing out empty degrees in “Education”?
I’ve noticed with my kids that they can barely hang on to that level at age 11, but are quite at ease with Algebra and advanced math by age 12. There really is a required brain structure to handle the abstract stuff, and I don’t think you can get it in a normal brain until well after puberty begins.
And Saxon rules. Especially the Algebra II book.
This is an intramural liberal match, whereas white progressives cleanse the school of the “exciting” cultural diversity so the white libs who are flocking to the DC teat don’t have to pay the private school tax that afflicts our “diverse” areas.
Exactly right. The only reason for requiring Algebra II in HS would be to create a diploma that means something. That, however, isn’t what this proposal is really about. If it were then we would be tightening everything else and acknowledging that only perhaps 20% of students are “high school” material.
We already have states that require “algebra”, but if you examine what is behind the label, it is really mostly arithmetic. If this new requirement is imposed, something substantially less than Algebra II will be taught under the label of Algebra II so politicians and bureaucrats can swindle the public.
I am willing to wager that a significant majority of college students today couldn’t pass a rigorous Algebra II course (defined as Saxon’s curriculum).
Overall, educvation in the US has become a game of “Let’s Pretend”.
That's how it is with socialism. There is always a gradual deterioration over the generations.
Please remember that government schools are socialism. They were **always** socialism from the first day they opened in the mid-1800s to early 1900s.
When nationalized health care comes it won't be that bad for awhile. Then the non-socialist trained doctors, nurses, and administrators will begin to retire and they will take with them their dedication to professionalism. The socialists will then have full control. In one to two generations all the health care workers will have had no acquaintance with the professionals who were non-socialist trained. Socialists will be training socialists.
In 50 years citizens will be saying, if we could only get rid of the health unions, if we could only get back to basics, if only we could have local control, if only we could have health vouchers or tax credits. Some hardy individuals will learn to “homecare” and find ways to privately obtain health care out of the country.
The goal and purpose of our modern socialist and collectivist government schools was to gain power over the people. Mark Steyn is correct. Getting control of health care is also about power.
I’m not sure what the FOIL method is or what purplemath is. I use A=LW, V=LWH, Y=MX+B etc. My high school algebra book called it algebra but maybe it was New Math.
I had a brief memory flash when I read FOIL in your post.
FIRST
OUTER
INNER
LAST
am I right fellow FReepers?
Yep, Saxon math Algebra II here when I was in 7th grade. I don’t think I ever did so well in a math course again. Took Calculus in high school, and that was pretty rough, took it again in college and it made much more sense. I just wish Calc II had been as easy as Calc III!
Amazingly, I remembered it too.
I’m so glad I have a few brain cells left!
Saxon Math is Parent-Proof. What I like about it is that what is in the teacher’s book is in the student’s book-—everthing but the answers. It makes it really easy for the parent to help the student at home because they can see exactly how the lesson was taught. Saxon Math is a great tool for homeschool and public school alike.
One of the biggest frustrations I have when helping my son with math, is when I help him with division, and I show him the way I was taught, and he complains, “That’s not the way we were taught.”
(A quote form the first comment on the book.) Without applications almost any body of knowledge is next to useless.
Calculus was a total mystery to me for the first two semesters. The one question I had that none of my profs could or would answer was "Why do I need to know this?" The answer was always "Because your degree requires it, or because you'll need it for the next class".
Finally I had Dr Earl W Swokowski for the third semester of Calculus (He also was the author of the textbook we were using). So I asked my question "Why do I need to know this?"
We spent the next 2 sessions exploring where calculus is usefull using real world (but somewhat fanciful) examples. The one that sticks to me is if you were swimming and knew the topography of the bottom of the lake a second order deriviative of that topography would tell you which direction to swim to get to shallower water fastest.
Finally! an application for this stuff. The rest of the class just clicked. Everything suddenly made sense.
So sometimes, for some people, the application is all important while the "abstract, imiaginary and creative" is just useless noise.
BTW, to get back on topic. I loved high school algebra, geometry, trig and pre-calculus. I guess geometry was my favorite though. I'm one of those twisted, thoroughly damaged people that loves doing proofs.
Good comment. I have read comments from people who ought to know that to complete a degree at a reputable college requires an IQ of around 115 and with it, a capacity for in-depth abstract thinking. That said, obviously such a requirement for taking Algebra II would eliminate a substantial number of students from completing high school as presently constituted.
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