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When I was in school (70's) we were required to take 3 years of Math (Algebra, Geometry, Trig).
That was everyone. The 4th year was a Math elective (pre-Calc or Business Math).
While I went to a Catholic school they still went by NYC curriculum and we all took the NYS Regants exams.
What we are doing here is lowering the bar to get "better numbers".
So more will graduate and they will be less educated then previous generations.
When I was in school (70's) we were required to take 3 years of Math (Algebra, Geometry, Trig).
That was everyone. The 4th year was a Math elective (pre-Calc or Business Math).
While I went to a Catholic school they still went by NYC curriculum and we all took the NYS Regants exams.
What we are doing here is lowering the bar to get "better numbers".
So more will graduate and they will be less educated then previous generations.
And this is good ?
Yup. No one tells you until you step into the classroom that the bar we're working with is really a limbo bar.
As a practical matter, having everybody in Algebra II ruins the class. Many students are not motivated or lack the talent to succeed in the coursework. The teacher ends up spending most of her time doing remedial exercises that deprive the good students of a quality experience. STEM is not for everybody. We all have different gifts in life. Anybody remotely interested in going to college is still going to take Alg II anyway. The difference is the class will be more rigorous.
Around here, it's actually a middle school class for the college prep, honors type students. Geometry, trig/precalculus and calculus would be the high school school courses. When I was in school, there was one special tenth grade students only geometry section explicitly for those students (who took algebra I and II before high school), to prevent exactly what you describe above.
The majority of high school students who should not get a 4 year bachelor's degree would be better served with applied mathematics that they need to use rather than a theory course like Algebra II. Statistics comes to mind; so does economics. But we can't have the masses literate in statistics and economics now, can we? God forbid they find out that the majority of non-peer reviewed methods used to generate statistics are scams meant to take their money for little in return.
I was required to take an economics course in high school (Texas in the early 2000s), but it's a social science course. It was offered in combination with government. I wouldn't be surprised if it's still that way in Texas today.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jasper12
Yes. I can see this. The mandate lowered the number of high school graduates. You can fake out a lot of subjects, but you either can do math or not.
Texas' graduation rate has improved in recent years before this requirement was removed. With the more accurate calculation and collection methods being used now, Texas has one of the best graduation rates in the country. http://educationblog.dallasnews.com/...improves.html/
Algebra II is rigorous and should be required for college-bound students and optional for others.
No not really. You can learn it college when you are closer to your career path. There are jobs and even college educated degrees that don’t need this kind of math (Does a lawyer need Algebra II?). I was lucky I got out before it was a requirement in my state. I found uses for Algebra and Geometry, took a form of statics and trig in college but honestly I don’t think it should be on the high school level. If anything I would think statistics would be more useful.
I was required to take an economics course in high school (Texas in the early 2000s), but it's a social science course. It was offered in combination with government. I wouldn't be surprised if it's still that way in Texas today.
Texas' graduation rate has improved in recent years before this requirement was removed. With the more accurate calculation and collection methods being used now, Texas has one of the best graduation rates in the country. Texas high school graduation rate improves | Dallas Morning News
Except that Texas is exceptionally good at fudging the numbers.
Bill Hammond, president and CEO of the Texas Association of Business, calculated a completion rate of 65 percent by comparing ninth grade enrollment with the number of seniors graduating from the same cohort. Children at Risk takes the process a step further, tracking student movement through “leavers” – students not counted by the Texas Education Agency as dropouts but who leave the school for reasons beyond transferring to another public school. At 71.6 percent, Children at Risk’s calculated graduation rate strives to account for students who fall through the cracks. The data in both figures show the fact of the matter: The dropout problem remains prevalent.
Just like Bush's Texas Education miracle, it is all smoke and mirrors.
Not having a college degree is basically financial suicide today.
Not necessarily. Many people earn a good, honest living in the skilled trades fields. Coincidentally, you might be surprised to learn that a great many college graduates are unemployed or underemployed and involuntarily-out-of-field. It's even possible to over-educate yourself (piling on more and more degrees) to the point where you are unemployable and burdened by student loans that cannot be discharged in bankruptcy but cannot find a job in your field since the schools produced a large excess of graduates, which describes the majority of today's law school graduates (7 years of college education).
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