Posted on 07/21/2017 5:12:11 AM PDT by C19fan
Algebra is one of the biggest hurdles to getting a high school or college degree — particularly for students of color and first-generation undergrads.
It is also the single most failed course in community colleges across the country. So if you're not a STEM major (science, technology, engineering, math), why even study algebra?
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
Same here. Perpetually-high-grades son (civil engineer/transportation planner today) started flunking math in fifth grade, and when called on it admitted he was bored stiff. I convinced his Lutheran school teacher to let us "homeschool" him in algebra, and by the end of eighth grade he had finished Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II, and by the time he entered RHIT he was at Calc III (he left me behind at practical calc).
Daughter, OTOH, still struggles with algebra, though she got through it for her nursing prereqs, and if she can get past the TEAS and into the nursing school, will only have to do dosage math from then on. But I wouldn't have her going into nursing without at least demonstrating the ability to get through algebra, which she has.
Yup. Me, too. That's why I said 99%.....
A = A + 1 is never a valid mathematical statement. Subtract A from both sides of the equation and you’re left with 0 = 1, which is never true. The single and double =’s used in certain programming languages are just syntactical operators, not mathematical statements.
The expression a = a + 1 simply instructs the microprocessor to increment some value a by 1. It does not mean that a actually equals one more than itself, which is a mathematical absurdity.
I’m in culinary school. You use algebra to figure out enlarging or downsizing quantities. Many talented chefs have failed culinary math over and over again.
Yes,...I have CONTEMPT for the teachers who passed these students from grade to grade.
I have CONTEMPT for the principals who awarded them MEANINGLESS high school diplomas.
I guess that makes me obnoxious and an egoist.
Oh come on. Teach the students algebra. Stop lowering the bar for people “of color.” Do a better job teaching it. And if you have good professors, good tutors, Khan academy online, etc, and they can’t do it, they don’t belong in college. And there is no shame there; intern somewhere and get work experience.
... and most restaurants ( small businesses ) file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy before they finish a single year of business.
Exactly
The world needs ditch diggers, too.
That is only probable for left-brained, linear thinkers. In my many years of working with artists, architects, designers, writers, photographers, etc., several of whom had near-genius or genius IQ, very few could "do" higher abstract math, even algebra. Yet they had excelled in visual math like plane geometry.
"All God's children got a place in the choir/ some sing low, some sing higher..."
Prior to the unionization of teachers the Washington DC Public School system had a track system starting with 7th grade. Structured to allow the brightest to be challenged without the drag of lazy or disruptive students on the majority of the class. The track system allowed for advancement to a higher tier, either for all honors classes or just those in which a student showed particular aptitude and willingness to apply oneself. By the same token, honors tier students could be dropped to a lower tier because of poor performance. Elective classes were usually open to all.
DC system circa 1965
Honors - top tier college bound students with great potential
College Prep - provided those desiring to advance to college the necessary skill sets to acquire a degree. Counseling suggested specific study courses for students with clear goals.
General - core general knowledge to function as an autonomous adult with awareness of American history, civics, culture and exposure to business classes.
Basic - geared towards remedial work and introduction to trade skills, woodworking, metal shop, print shop, mechanical drawing, home economics, cooking, which were available as elective course to all if space was available.
Vocational schools with with heavy emphasis on manual trades. At one time there was a technical curriculum at several high schools which included aviation classes with link trainers and radial aircraft engines, etc. Dropped in the eary 50’s.
In addition there were reform schools for those with severe behavioral problems. Last chance to straighten out before
Before teachers unions Washington DC had the highest nationwide rate of black HS gradutes and those going on to college.
The liberal left destroyed opportunities across the board with their purported concerns for the emotional well being of certain classes of students with the Procrustian egalitarian scythes. Critical mention must be made of the post union concern for teacher to student ratios, a ploy to increase union membership at the expense ofvthe students. As one teachers union president famously stated, “I’m here to represent the union members not the students.”
IMO, it is highly unlikely that the public school systems can be turned around as a whole.
I love the kids in my classes! But in between learning the mother sauces, we do nothing but take quizzes. 4 or 5 quizzes a week. Nuts. I’m thinking of transferring to a pastry school in Manhattan.
True! And the left brain thinkers should be required to take classes in the arts and humanities as well. Bring back music, shop classes, home economics, theatre, classic literature, history, etc.
The purpose of a well rounded education is to expose a person to as much as possible and to develop an appreciation for the varying god given talents around them. Passing is not success and failure is not fatal. Both are essential.
As many have said before, these students should not be in college in the first place.
Of course, much of the problem originates from the government and judges, who decided that using an IQ test for employment was illegal, but a college degree was OK. This created the academic industry. Problem is that in order to graduate low IQ students they have to dumb it down for everyone.
I don’t think a person has learned anything until they’ve failed at least once at something. We learn more from our failures. It’s what you do after you’ve failed that truly measures a persons metal.
I think there has been college algebra for a very long time, what is new is college classes preparing students for college algebra.
“I had a big, burly Russian professor, with a thick accent that taught my linear algebra class, too. I eked out of there with a C+. I thought calculus was significantly easier.”
I seem to remember getting a “B-” in the course.
X + Y could be construed as “cisgenderist”/s
X + Y could be construed as “cisgenderist”/s
Lazarus Long did not tolerate fools and neither should we.
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