''Merica drops math as it grunts back to stone age?

[Atheist-Lite]

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/obs ... he-answer/

Abandoning Algebra Is Not The Answer

In an opinion piece for the New York Times on Sunday, political science professor Andrew Hacker asks, “Is Algebra Necessary?” and answers, “No.” It’s not just algebra: geometry and calculus are on the chopping block, too. It’s not that he doesn’t think math is important; he wants the traditional sequence to be replaced by a general “quantitative skills” class, and perhaps some statistics.

Quite a few people have responded to Hacker’s column already. I highly recommend these posts by Rob Knop, Daniel Willingham, and RiShawn Biddle.

There are so many problems with Hacker’s essay that it’s hard to know where to start. Hacker’s first main point is that math is difficult, and the poor grades that result prevent too many people from graduating high school or college. His second is that the math we learn is not the math we need in our jobs.

(continued, borked nation can't add up, won't add up?)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNsrK6P9 ... re=related[/youtube]

[Tyrannical]

We sort of expect everyone to get a HS degree, so they've been lowering the standards for years so that everyone can. What we should teach in HS is simply too difficult for a certain part of the population.

[Atheist-Lite]

We sort of expect everyone to get a HS degree, so they've been lowering the standards for years so that everyone can. What we should teach in HS is simply too difficult for a certain part of the population.

I'm not a expert on America but how did that part get hold of the money printing press?

[Tyrannical]

We sort of expect everyone to get a HS degree, so they've been lowering the standards for years so that everyone can. What we should teach in HS is simply too difficult for a certain part of the population.

I'm not a expert on America but how did that part get hold of the money printing press?

Ya lost me with that comment, but one of the reasons is the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
Schools and teachers are under pressure and risk the loss of federal dollars if student test scores are up to snuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Child_Left_Behind_Act

[Atheist-Lite]

Don't know if this is related but it could be?

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06 ... han-think/

[Tyrannical]

Don't know if this is related but it could be?

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06 ... han-think/

The Federal Reserve Bank prints money, buys/sells debt, sets interest rates. I'm sure none of them went to public schools.
Ron Paul has been trying to get the FED audited for decades.

[JimC]

I'm sure China will agree, and start phasing out all the hard stuff from their education system...

Not all Imperial declines are due to lead in the water pipes...

[Calilasseia]

Could this "Professor Hacker" please tell everyone how NASA is going to send future missions to other planets, without a large number of mathematically competent staff on its books? Yes, that's the Curiosity rover pointing and laughing at you, "professor".

[Tyrannical]

Schools should go back to giving students IQ tests and then segregating them accordingly.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

We sort of expect everyone to get a HS degree, so they've been lowering the standards for years so that everyone can. What we should teach in HS is simply too difficult for a certain part of the population.

I'm going to take a wild guess as to what "a certain par to the population" means to a bigot.

[Kristie]

Schools should go back to giving students IQ tests and then segregating them accordingly.

My daughter's school does something like that. She took a voluntary test that looked very much like an IQ test. If her score was in the 80th percentile, she went for more testing. They have an advanced class that she will be placed in and there is a remedial class also with a few average class. She is only in 3rd grade, so I'm not sure if it's something the school system here continues through high school.



Oh, and my brilliant child scored in the 95th percentile!

[Tyrannical]

We sort of expect everyone to get a HS degree, so they've been lowering the standards for years so that everyone can. What we should teach in HS is simply too difficult for a certain part of the population.

I'm going to take a wild guess as to what "a certain par to the population" means to a bigot.

Don't blame me, it's not my fault what all the testing and evidence points to. A rigorous HS curriculum is simply inappropriate for individuals below ~90 IQ.

[Svartalf]

We sort of expect everyone to get a HS degree, so they've been lowering the standards for years so that everyone can. What we should teach in HS is simply too difficult for a certain part of the population.

Pretty much. I don't know if I'd have gotten into the university if I had been born at the time my father was, but it's obvious today's kids get it a lot easier than I did... I've seen high school students who hadn't mastered math stuff that they got into me in grade school (which is better as I stopped undertanding anything in maffs nearly as soon as I entered secondary school)... and a girl who had major HS problems to the point that her even getting her high school degree was far from a certainty is going to try for our most prestigious law school. I have little doubt she'll flunk first year.

[FBM]

Schools should go back to giving students IQ tests and then segregating them accordingly.

As an educator, I'm somewhat prone to agree, within limits. Sometimes I get stuck with a class with students' skill levels ranging from rank beginner to near-native fluency. Of course, I can teach at both levels, but while I'm teaching to one level, the others are twiddling their thumbs, bored and/or lost. When possible, we do level-testing before or at the beginning of the program or semester. Students are segregated accordingly. But the system is flexible enough so that if a student's performance in one level justifies him/her being bumped up or down to another level, we can do it. The limits I mentioned would be barring students from studying certain subjects based on their current test scores. That happens routinely here in Korea. I think everyone should have an equal opportunity to study a certain field if they're willing to do sufficient remedial work in order to be able to participate in regular class activities.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Schools should go back to giving students IQ tests and then segregating them accordingly.

My daughter's school does something like that. She took a voluntary test that looked very much like an IQ test. If her score was in the 80th percentile, she went for more testing. They have an advanced class that she will be placed in and there is a remedial class also with a few average class. She is only in 3rd grade, so I'm not sure if it's something the school system here continues through high school.



Oh, and my brilliant child scored in the 95th percentile!

Well of course she did. Genes.