Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
When US companies are fighting for H1B visas' quotas, do we want our kinds graduate from HS without one of major skill that a global economy needs? Not everybody should get degree in political science and be good in organizing parties. We need kids to be competitive in global economy, we need analytic skills, logical thinking skills. We need better physicians who can diagnose and be proactive. We need better business leaders to run stable successful business, better engineers to push technologies to next level.
Is it algebra really that hard that so many kids just can't get it?
Or it is our educational system so broken, that they just can't teach kids math anymore?
I hated Algebra in HS and college. Had no problem with the other math courses including Calc1 and Calc2 in college. Have a BS in Comp Sci and my hardest class was Algebra. I passed, but hated it and struggled with it. I wonder how many students change majors due to Algebra - maybe they think the other courses are harder in college as the years progress. None of the other math or even Comp Sci courses were as hard as Algebra, IMO.
To this day, I see zero use for applying Algebra in the real world. I design and develop software for a living. Still see no real world use of Albegra, even in the high tech world.
Our state requires that students pass and end-of-course test in algebra I. About half of them fail the first time, and many of them never pass and leave school with no diploma. Personally, I believe that the courses we taught non-college-bound students when I became a teacher were much more useful and accessible for these students. There was a year of general math and a year of consumer math. Now, students can graduate never having learned about the practical uses of decimals, fractions, and percents, measurements, or investments.
In the name of raising standards, we have simultaneously reduced the usefulness of the math that we teach, while pushing out students who don't yet have the ability to think abstractly. I read the article and all the comments when it when it was published, and as a math teacher, I'm afraid that I disagree with the practice of algebra-for-all. I know too many good kids who will make great employees, but who just can't get algebra at this point in their lives. In my mind, I can't just relegate them to being drop-out losers because their minds don't process abstractions. This is another case of NCLB undermining the education of many children who deserve an appropriate education, rather than one that implies that if they don't go to college, they are second-class students.
I'm now 63 and still haven't learned or figured out Algebra, but I got by without it!
Luckily I learned to use plain simple arithmetic on a calculator, but no fractions please!
BTW, my older brother majored in math in college, me with only a high school diploma,
but I earned more money than he did after retirement! I retired at age 49, he at age 60.
It wasn't a competition, it just turned out that way as we got older!
I will be honest, I can't do math to save my life. I wonder though, if part of the problem with our school system is our social problems. I was moved around from school to school, due to a completely disorganized, messed up childhood.
Other countries, the citizens are less mobile. The family structure is more solid. Rather than blaming schools for the inability of our students to learn, let's look at the children who are successful in math and algebra. I bet their home lives are more stable. It is difficult to focus on math when you wonder where you will be living next month.
I hated Algebra in HS and college. Had no problem with the other math courses including Calc1 and Calc2 in college. Have a BS in Comp Sci and my hardest class was Algebra. I passed, but hated it and struggled with it. I wonder how many students change majors due to Algebra - maybe they think the other courses are harder in college as the years progress. None of the other math or even Comp Sci courses were as hard as Algebra, IMO.
To this day, I see zero use for applying Algebra in the real world. I design and develop software for a living. Still see no real world use of Albegra, even in the high tech world.
How in the world can you do well in Calculus without understanding algebra? I don't get that at all. Calculus uses algebra.
Algebra is not difficult if taught properly, imo.
If you program, you are using algebra. What do you think symbolic manipulations are? Programming allows you to create your own algorithms.
When US companies are fighting for H1B visas' quotas, do we want our kinds graduate from HS without one of major skill that a global economy needs? Not everybody should get degree in political science and be good in organizing parties. We need kids to be competitive in global economy, we need analytic skills, logical thinking skills. We need better physicians who can diagnose and be proactive. We need better business leaders to run stable successful business, better engineers to push technologies to next level.
Is it algebra really that hard that so many kids just can't get it?
Or it is our educational system so broken, that they just can't teach kids math anymore?
Neither. Our kids don't think they should have to work to learn. They think it should be easy and entertaining and when it isn't, few rise to the challenge. Our kids are over indulged, protected and don't know the meaning of hard work. Learning algebra is hard but it's not THAT hard. It takes practice and perseverance. Two things many kids will not give.
Also they've been conditioned to blame everyone and everything besides themselves (in the name of protecting their egos) when they do fail. Just look at the two questions you posed. You gave only to possibilities. 1) It's too hard or 2) our EDUCATION system is broken. You, completely, left out the student's responsibility to learn. This is typical of our society and as long as it is this way, nothing will change.
Trust me, algebra is no harder here than it is abroad. Our students do not rise to the challenge. Well, most don't. Our top 10% do and they compare favorably worldwide but it drops fast from there. With my top kids, they bust butt to learn the material when it gets hard. With the kids below them, they beg to slow down, ask me to do their review for them and then ask for retakes on tests and THEN they ask for extra credit for bringing in Kleenex.... RARELY will they even stay after school 10 minutes to get help or work a single EXTRA problem to attain understanding (which leaves me assigning homework geared towards the bottom of the class when the top could do half and still get it.). They won't stay after or do an extra problem because learning is NOT their job. Last year, I spent my entire weekend working on a remediation packet for my students. When I was done, my husband asked me an interesting question. He asked "How many of your students studied as hard as you did for them this weekend?". He has a point. It SHOULD be THIER job to study not mine yet I did it for them because THAT is what is expected in US schools.
Last year I had a sweedish foriegn exchange student who was dying under the homework load. She was used to deciding how much practice she needed. In some classes she needed less and in some she needed more and she knew it was her job to decide which were which. Here, we have to give homework and grade it or kids don't do it. I hate grading homework. Homework is practice and shouldn't be graded but if we don't give that carrot, 90% of our kids will do nothing. You see, learning is NOT their job. Getting grades is.
Here, education is an entitlement. Abroad, it is a privilidge you EARN. So, a higher percentage of their kids work to earn it while ours act like it's something being forced upon them. I don't believe there is anything schools can do to change this. Valueing education starts at home and it is reinforced by the peer group. As long as we view education as something we/our kids must suffer through, nothing changes. When education has value and kids are expected to do what it takes to learn, THEN things will change.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 09-08-2012 at 11:55 AM..
I believe, your answer is 2. our educational system is broken
It is a school responsibility to teach kids that school is a hard WORK. And we do not do it.
Second one, maybe not all kids have those high skills. Bust most of them should get it if they were taught properly. And part of the problem is the attention of the teacher in class mostly going to kids, who do not show any progress. And that make kids, who can be successful in learning math, unmotivated.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
RARELY will they even stay after school 10 minutes to get help or work a single EXTRA problem to attain understanding (which leaves me assigning homework geared towards the bottom of the class when the top could do half and still get it.). They won't stay after or do an extra problem because learning is NOT their job. Last year, I spent my entire weekend working on a remediation packet for my students. When I was done, my husband asked me an interesting question. He asked "How many of your students studied as hard as you did for them this weekend?". He has a point. It SHOULD be THIER job to study not mine yet I did it for them because THAT is what is expected in US schools. 