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Yeah, they shouldn't teach basic arithmetic either. Too hard for some kids. Better yet, just get rid of all math requirements, starting from kindergarten. I don't want my tax money going towards something so useless.
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I do think all students should learn statistical algebra, like mortgages, finance, budgeting, percentages, loans, compounding interest, graphs, fractions, data plots, etc. Abstract algebra should be optional.
You do realize that all of those things require a higher-than-basic grasp of algebra, like how to handle and think about indeterminates, etc.
Also, "abstract algebra" is the wrong term for whatever you're describing (high-school algebra, also known as "classical algebra").
Abstract algebra is an actual term which means something else: the study of mathematical objects such as groups, rings, fields/field extensions, modules, categories, algebraic varieties, and their homomorphisms (in other words, stuff which is wayyyy beyond high school algebra, though still very useful in the real world if one is interested in things like cybersecurity/cryptography/algorithm design, etc). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_algebra
I'm a multi-millionaire and never used anything beyond 5th grade math.
Our education did not teach me the skills I used to be successful- discipline, toughness, ambition, drive, pride, integrity, a willingness to think for myself, take risk.
But, no doubt, there are lots of 9 to 5 zombies that can run circles around me doing algebra.
Do you own property? Have any loans or credit cards? If so, you are using algebra. You just don't know it.
If you wanted x amount of monthy income, and each property brought in $500 in rent a month, how many properties would you need to own?
Let me say, as a nurse who worked in a small office, I had to calculate drug doses frequently. Here's one:
Doctor orders 650 mg of a med. The med comes in a powder, 1000 mg to a sealed vial. To mix, you need to add 2 ml of liquid (saline or other diluent). That makes about 2.2 (? just guessing here; it's been a while) of solution. How much do you give the patient?
Let me say, as a nurse who worked in a small office, I had to calculate drug doses frequently. Here's one:
Doctor orders 650 mg of a med. The med comes in a powder, 1000 mg to a sealed vial. To mix, you need to add 2 ml of liquid (saline or other diluent). That makes about 2.2 (? just guessing here; it's been a while) of solution. How much do you give the patient?
Your problem has lots of holes, unsolvable. Please refute my statement by providing your fabulous solution.
Yeah, they shouldn't teach basic arithmetic either. Too hard for some kids. Better yet, just get rid of all math requirements, starting from kindergarten. I don't want my tax money going towards something so useless.
You do realize that all of those things require a higher-than-basic grasp of algebra, like how to handle and think about indeterminates, etc.
Also, "abstract algebra" is the wrong term for whatever you're describing (high-school algebra, also known as "classical algebra").
Abstract algebra is an actual term which means something else: the study of mathematical objects such as groups, rings, fields/field extensions, modules, categories, algebraic varieties, and their homomorphisms (in other words, stuff which is wayyyy beyond high school algebra, though still very useful in the real world if one is interested in things like cybersecurity/cryptography/algorithm design, etc). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_algebra
All this, even by professionals, is NOT done longhand and is plugged into calculators for the sake of efficiency. Knowing WHICH calculator you need and WHAT data to plug in which spaces are your toughest problems you'll face.
Many people often don't recognize just how often they are actually using basic algebra because they don't take the time to write out the problem in the form of an equation with x marking the unknown quantity. But it's algebra all the same!
I am not saying 12 year olds should decide what they want to do in life. I think high school should be about trying out different careers, like a simulation office, etc. so students have a better idea of what they want to do. When I was a teen adults always asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up and expected a concrete answer. Like what? Did they know what they want to be at that age? I dislike the mentality of these adults.
Well, that would be an apprenticeship, not school.
Not to say that apprenticeships are necessarily always a bad thing or that everyone absolutely must have X years in school (where X is often given as 13 or 17 if kindergarten is included).
But as long as most employers have a narrow-minded idea of what it means to be "educated", there is not much room to skip going through all those years of school. And even if employers allowed people other ways of demonstrating their competence, the subject of this thread is the utility of knowing algebra. And in that light, it is patently absurd to think that algebra isn't important. Without basic algebra, it is almost impossible to "plan ahead" with anything that has to be calculated - money, buying supplies to build something, etc.
People have to work until age 67 to collect full social security. That's almost 50 years post high school. What's the big rush to get them out in the work world? High school should be for education. There's plenty of time to pick up a certificate, an AAS, or (gasp!) a college degree.
You are pre-supposing that no young people actually want to work, which is just not true at all.
Also, the idea that work should be something to dread rather than something to enjoy is itself socially constructed, at least to the extent that most people just accept doing something they hate as a "fact of life" and then project their feelings onto people who aren't even legally old enough to work yet. In my opinion, that is bizarre, but it seems so normal because you're used to it.
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