Posted on 02/08/2013 9:08:51 AM PST by lowbridge
California will no longer require eighth-graders to take algebra —a move that is line with the Common Core standards being adopted by most states, but that may leave students unprepared for college.
Last month, California formally shifted to the Common Core mathematics standards, which recommend that students delay taking algebra if they aren’t ready for it. Previously, algebra class was a requirement for all eighth-graders in the state.
The Common Core State Standards Initiative, which is sponsored by the National Governor’s Association, is an effort to unify diverse state education curricula. Forty-five other states and the District of Columbia have signed on so far.
But some education experts worry that the change will further damage struggling students’ college chances, since early proficiency in Algebra I is an excellent predictor of college graduation, according to the Mercury News.
(Excerpt) Read more at gopthedailydose.com ...
Gee, in NYC in the 70s algebra was 9th grade math - even in Catholic schools. My daughter in a VA public school took algebra last year in 8th grade.
..when Common Core is fully implemented, I don’t see how God-fearing, conservative teachers can continue on—my wife and I will have a big decision to make...
Califonia Public Education = “Winning”!
I didn’t have algebra until high school, and no calculus until college. Did well in 2 years of college calculus, all As and Bs. Must have algebra in 8th grade or else? Not in my experience.
That’s because algebra is an element of the oppressive paradigm foisted upon the heritages of color. It started out pure when the Muslims invented it. But like everything else in the United States, algebra is just holding back the people.
I graduated from a Catholic college prep HS in NYC in 1978 - algebra was always 9th grade math and not just in catholic schools.
My daughter, OTOH, took algebra last year while still in 8th grade, but only because she is in an accelerated class. In our district algebra is 9th grade math. The majority of other students in her geometry class this year are 10th graders.
Gives up? Does that mean the kids weren’t getting it? How about ‘home-schooled’ kids? Bet they get it — in spades!
For what they took from the Dravidian cultures which they subsequently destroyed.
Things change slowly ~ when I got here they still distrusted addition and subtraction.
Can anyone imagine anything more stupid than such a project? The insanity of the present climate in American Education closely parallels the ideological idiocy, which at the same time embraces "diversity" as a goal, while promoting every idiotic egalitarian program under the sun, to undermine the vast actual diversity of human types!
Our States were created by settlers with different motives, different values & different aptitudes. The Federal Constitution, wisely, left all questions of Health, Safety & Morals (the Police Powers) to the States. The Founders understood that one size did not fit all. But now the "Mipips"--as I call them (Marxist Influenced Pseudo-Intellectual Poseurs--are intent on forcing everyone into the same mold.
Yet nothing is more certain than that Collectivist/Egalitarianism Sabotages Human Potential.
As long as this idiocy goes largely unchallenged in American public debate, our situation will continue to deteriorate. Our hopes for the future are ever more dependent upon the integrity of someone like Hans Christian Andersen's little boy, who is not afraid to announce that the Emperor is naked.
Enough is enough.
William Flax
I did the same thing. I have an engineering degree from Texas A&M.
Personally, I don’t think you need to take Algebra I in eigth grade.
Some people do not do well at math,and it might be better to have them take a slower paced class that gives them lots of practice.
Lots of kids do not belong in college, so why are they forced to be college ready.
I think I would change the curriculum also to make it things like practical math. They have to figure out tips and taxes, balance a checkbook, work on tax returns,double or triple recipes for cooking, etc.
4/3s of all people don’t understand fractions...
Algebra is still a 9th grade class in this district - except for the accelerated students.
35 years after I graduated, algebra is still a 9th grade class in my alma mater.
I have a long standing theory that sports journalists do their best to interview those with the poorest communication skills in order to make themselves sound more intelligent.
When I was in school no one got it until 9th grade. And then only those who were college bound.
When I got to the University of Washington, there were scads of young women who were in what we called Bonehead math. They were struggling with the Math 105 that was required.
I hosted free math seminars in my co-ed dorm every week. And these were young middle-class white women who had not gotten basic skills.
“our Diversity Is Our Strength!”
As long as they can use an EBT card and vote Democratic, its all good.
Hilarious and pitiful...my 3rd grader is in the Horizon’s program here (gifted student) in Georgia (yes, in public school) and she began doing algebra this year.
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