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

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, @05:28PM (13 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @05:28PM (#542969)

    The biggest problem with algebra is people cannot connect it in any way to their lives, statistics people can connect with and it requires algebra to do, learn by doing not by "book lern'in" that works better for most people, teach to the student not to the subject is another axiom people seem to have forgotten since the 60's and 70's and 80's, but maybe it is to hard for millennials, who you go to their safe space and cry

    BTW idiots millenials are born in the 80's not the 00's

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @05:52PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @05:52PM (#542992)

    Idiot millennial born in the 80's here... this separation in maths education is already made in some places...

    When I went to secondary school (in the Netherlands) they split maths in 2 groups after the second year: alpha maths (containing statistics and chance calculations) and beta maths (with algebra, charting, logarithms and derivatives). You were obliged to take Dutch, English and at least one maths class, but... choosing physics, biology or chemistry required you to have the beta maths. I went with the beta courses, and only had my first statistics lessons when going to university (studying biology).

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @05:59PM (5 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @05:59PM (#542996)

      and?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @06:02PM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @06:02PM (#543000)

        Idiot Americans aren't obliged to study any language except English.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @06:09PM (3 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @06:09PM (#543006)

          So your saying I should have to study Dutch to study Biology, OK it make about as much sense as studying algebra in isolation I'm sure that will lead to good results. even HUUUGGEE results

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @10:26PM (2 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @10:26PM (#543126)

            So your saying I should have to study Dutch to study Biology,

            I dunno, what are you saying, as in "you are saying", or contracted to "you're saying"? Maybe you should have to study English to complain about having to study Dutch in order to study Biology and learn maths.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @11:00PM (1 child)

              by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @11:00PM (#543146)

              Nice deflection but since you clearly understood me, perhaps you should study the history of English and answer my question before you embark on that clearly necessary and years long task

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 23 2017, @09:15AM

                by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 23 2017, @09:15AM (#543313)

                No, I did not understand what you were saying, because you are too stupid to spell what I can only assume is your native tongue. Your sayings are not my sayings, and evidently you completely undermined the point you were making by being too stupid to spell. This will not end will for you. And it sets a fine president for others, for all intensive purposes. I hope you can get a new leash on life. I lack toast and I'm tolerant.

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Sulla on Saturday July 22 2017, @08:28PM (2 children)

    by Sulla (5173) on Saturday July 22 2017, @08:28PM (#543071) Journal

    Because they don't try. Algebra is everywhere.
    http://www.basic-mathematics.com/algebra-word-problems.html [basic-mathematics.com]

    --
    Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @09:07PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @09:07PM (#543086)

      That was sort of my point but thanks for playing!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 23 2017, @11:50AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 23 2017, @11:50AM (#543340)

      The first five are mental arithmetic and can be completed more effectively without algebra.

      1. Addition with a negative integer (subtraction)
      2. Trivial multiplication
      3. Trivial addition
      4. Subtraction and multiplication
      5. 26 / 2 = 13. Consecutive integers will be 12 and 14.

      Then I simply skipped to the end and didn't need algebra for that one either and their solutions...

      x - 20 = 50

      x - 20 + 20 = 50 + 20

      x + 0 = 70

      x = 70

      WTF is that? No wonder people are failing algebra if it's taught like this, the sane solution:

      x - 20 = 50
      ∴ x = 50 + 20
      ∴ x = 70

  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @09:33PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @09:33PM (#543101)

    Then again, at least to some algebra is about learning abstraction and abstract reasoning (which is what mathematics is all about).
    If you go for "connect it with their lives" it might actually remove a significant point of the whole thing.
    Though I wouldn't complain if it was replaced with something closer to university mathematics: logic, reasoning, proofs, ...
    It wouldn't hurt for people to at least get a taste of this a bit earlier.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @11:03PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @11:03PM (#543149)

      Why knowing A+B=C does not cause me to become confused when I think coffee plus water == coffee I can drink

    • (Score: 2) by t-3 on Sunday July 23 2017, @01:39AM

      by t-3 (4907) on Sunday July 23 2017, @01:39AM (#543208)

      In my school, "logic and reasoning" were taught in AP English, proofs taught in pre-calc (which I didn't pass (3 times, I really hated doing homework and it was 50% of the grade), I agree this should be changed to something more logical.