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Some Educators Question If Algebra Should Be Required

posted by n1 on Saturday July 22 2017, @04:22PM   Printer-friendly
from the math-is-hard dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Algebra is one of the biggest hurdles to getting a high school or college degree — particularly for students of color and first-generation undergrads.

It is also the single most failed course in community colleges across the country. So if you're not a STEM major (science, technology, engineering, math), why even study algebra?

That's the argument Eloy Ortiz Oakley, chancellor of the California community college system, made today in an interview with NPR's Robert Siegel.

At American community colleges, 60 percent of those enrolled are required to take at least one math course. Most — nearly 80 percent — never complete that requirement.

Oakley is among a growing number of educators who view intermediate algebra as an obstacle to students obtaining their credentials — particularly in fields that require no higher level math skills.

Their thinking has led to initiatives like Community College Pathways, which strays away from abstract algebra to engage students in real-world math applications.

-- submitted from IRC

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @05:22PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @05:22PM (#542965)

    I'm a STEMster and social skills are beneath me. Soft skills are for soft headed idiots. I'm blissfully oblivious to how much everyone hates me. I think people find me fascinating when I talk about myself. What I don't know is people are only pumping me for information they can use to mock me. People can't get rid of me through the usual social methods of mockery and shaming. I'll keep coming back until people resort to shunning and ostracism because nothing else works. I'm a STEMster and I can't understand why I always get banned from absolutely everywhere all the time.

    I'm an introvert and I have a wide range social skills from glares of disapproval and boredom to fully fledged conversation enders. It's difficult to feel ostracised from people I find tiresome and fully intend to avoid interacting with.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @05:39PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @05:39PM (#542979)

    Is that the best you can do? I go on job interviews and give a reason-your-company-sucks speech which I lace with examples of my own technical prowess, and I genuinely expect to be hired. Of course every interviewer is a blithering idiot who gets offended instead.