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Posted on 07/22/2017 5:15:30 PM PDT by grundle
Oh I am very happy,so not sure why you feel you have to write the crap you did.
Plumbers and electricians, builders, all need knowledge of math. My field is accounting and finance so of course I have to use algebra, statistics, etc. But almost everything in life is built on math.
Geometry is very important as well.
The senator from New York, who worked for Johnson, senator Moynihan coined the term ‘dumbing down”....a group. This has metastasized to everyone in government schools thus dumbing down all students. This maneuver isn’t even subtle. We are rushing to mediocracy and failure. We are institutional designing failure.
The nuns made math fun! We were engaged and competitive.
Geometry and Calculus were fun.
Our parents valued our education; that was drilled into our mushy heads.
Schools today, are just holding cells for the inner city utes of whom this article infers. Jail is their future. Not a lack of the knowledge of Algebra.
More a lack of the value of an education.
I think English has been dropped too.
Algebra teaches one the relationship of variables in an analytical way. You may not had to solve an algebraic equation this last week but you likely viewed a graph or chart and understood how variables effected the outcome quantitatively.
I work in Excel spreadsheets daily and I used algebraic equations in them on a regular basis.
Also, if one ever uses a Hewlett Packard calculator with RPN (Reverse Polish Notation) format, a good grasp of algebra is necessary to operate it correctly. :-)
BTW, I Loved Algebra. It was fun as far as I was concerned.
That’s why it takes all kinds of people to make the world go round. Every individual has different interests and skills. But when earning a college degree, or high school diploma for that matter, one should be able to pass a class in all areas of study.
A few months ago I saw a Texas Instruments calculator (A TI-Nspire CX) on clearance for only $50.
My math skills have been going down hill since the 1980s and I thought maybe this would be a way to begin re-acquiring them.
I got it out, charged it and tried to figure it out. There were no real instructions, I guess you have to get them off the internet.
Anyway, my 70 year old mind could not even start to figure it out. I do wish I could be a 14 year old kid again. I will just give it to my Grandson.
If you were going to major in any science degrees, you sure needed it. No one gave you just a *pass*; you had to earn you grades.
FWIW, a week doesn’t go by that I am not appalled at the inability of teens to do simple math, when money changes hands. Pathetic. They are not worth a minimum wage.
Business owners must tear their hair out, justifying cash drawers at the end of the day.
A kid today goes to work in a store....
the cash register calculates the sales tax.....
figures how change to make....
The kid only has to punch the buttons...
Probably true for any productive job. But you can make good money in unionized education, academia and many federal grant mining activities that have little connection to math, science or logic and that produce nothing of - positive - value.
Yup. When I said math is important, I meant it to include geometry as well as algebra. There have been times when I hired contractors to do work for me, and I have had to correct them or their workers on several occasions. To be honest, some weren't that good at math but managed to get jobs done by trial and error - with the wasted materials that goes along with mistakes. Recently had to eat the extra costs in a bathroom remodel because the contractor made mistakes on calculating needed materials, which were my responsibility to choose design and buy; some were last in stock and non-returnable. I've got extra wall and floor tiles I won't be able to use elsewhere, and had to scrounge up other under-calculated items. Good thing he was one of the lowest bids on the job. Same for a crew that did a fence for me, mis-calculations on materials.
Why are young people so bad at math?!
I’m guessing you paid for the materials? Easier for the contractor to buy a bunch extra to save him an extra trip when he messes up on one too many tiles.
I recall working with my dad on home-building projects. We could do the math okay. I was always amazed at his carpenters that could use their right-angle measuring things with all of the shorthand calculations on it. That was a real mystery to me - like a slide-rule was!
In an interview with the chancellor, NPR’s Robert Siegel pointed out the low graduation rate in the community college system (48% for an associate’s degree), and then asked Oakley if ditching algebra wasn’t just the “easy way out.”
They are implying that 100% of the 48% who drop out did so because of an algebra class? I don’t buy it.
In 2012, it was about money and laziness... Now it is Algebra? And we need to change requirements? Hmmm.
http://www.brighthub.com/education/college/articles/82378.aspx
Main Reason Students Drop Out of College:
Why is the number of dropouts so high? Granted, some students drop out because they’re too lazy to apply themselves, while others drop out because they really aren’t interested in obtaining a higher education and only enrolled to please their parents or because their friends were going to college. However, these students seem to be in the minority. According to a study conducted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2009, the main reason students drop out of college is “because they need money for survival” (Allgov.com).
That's the goal. As the article makes clear, this is about "credentials." The point is to get a bachelor's degree participation trophy for everyone. Unfortunately, stupid is as stupid does, and simply pretending someone is smarter doesn't make him so.
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