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.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 22 2017, @11:06PM (1 child)
No. But an apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Your intelligence is based on how you are raised, now whose crotch you are yanked out of. Now, how wealthy you are, that has more to do with the latter not the former. But both are not that gene-specific.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 23 2017, @09:33AM
Now, at long last, I am confused, no doubt due to my IQ being so low that I never needed to have it tested, rather like my "T", and that I am the scion of a long line of people who refused to become rich. Are we talking about the Trumps, or the Kardashians?