California throws in the towel on education

[Katzndogz]

Admitting that students in the state are too stupid to grasp Algebra, they are dropping the subject.

California drops Algebra 1 requirement for 8th graders | news10.net

Too bad not every school in the world is dropping Algebra.

 

[slackjawed]

Stupidity begets stupidity, lower the standards and the result will be a lack of ability to compete.

 

[Trajan]

well, they adopted a nationally approved curriculum.

BUT I agree its a bad idea, making it voluntary is kind of a cop out and considering the number of kids that require remedial math and English when they reach college, this is probably not a good idea.

 

[Two Thumbs]

With Algebra 1 required, the percentage of African-American students enrolled in the class went from 24 percent to 60 percent in the last nine years. For Latinos, that tripled to 63 percent.

It's hard to ignore how important Algebra 1 is. A student's success in that class is the single best predictor of college graduation.


CA should be sued for racism

 

[Truthmatters]

Brain research changing the way math is taught to younger children | Dallas-Fort Worth Medicine News and Advice - Health News for Dallas, Texas - The Dallas Morning News


just more proof we need early childhood education to solve this problem





In a typical preschool class, children do very little math. They may practice counting, and occasionally look at books about numbers, but that is about it. Many classes devote mere minutes a day to math instruction or no time at all, recent studies have found - far less than most children can handle, and not nearly enough to prepare those who, deprived of math-related games at home, quickly fall behind in kindergarten.

"Once that happens, it can be very hard to catch up," said Julie Sarama, a researcher in the graduate school of education at the University at Buffalo who, with her colleague and husband, Doug Clements, a professor in the same department, developed a program called Building Blocks to enrich early math education.

"They decide they're no good at math - 'I'm not a math person,' they say - and pretty soon the school agrees, the parents agree," Clements said.

"Everyone agrees."

 

[percysunshine]

Bola Bola

 

[Katzndogz]

Stupidity begets stupidity, lower the standards and the result will be a lack of ability to compete.

Just a lack of ability for American students to compete. Since so many American students are looking forward to a life of retirement after graduation, it doesn't matter to them anyway.

 

[martybegan]

Brain research changing the way math is taught to younger children | Dallas-Fort Worth Medicine News and Advice - Health News for Dallas, Texas - The Dallas Morning News


just more proof we need early childhood education to solve this problem





In a typical preschool class, children do very little math. They may practice counting, and occasionally look at books about numbers, but that is about it. Many classes devote mere minutes a day to math instruction or no time at all, recent studies have found - far less than most children can handle, and not nearly enough to prepare those who, deprived of math-related games at home, quickly fall behind in kindergarten.

"Once that happens, it can be very hard to catch up," said Julie Sarama, a researcher in the graduate school of education at the University at Buffalo who, with her colleague and husband, Doug Clements, a professor in the same department, developed a program called Building Blocks to enrich early math education.

"They decide they're no good at math - 'I'm not a math person,' they say - and pretty soon the school agrees, the parents agree," Clements said.

"Everyone agrees."

And who is to blame for this I wonder?

 

[slackjawed]

Brain research changing the way math is taught to younger children | Dallas-Fort Worth Medicine News and Advice - Health News for Dallas, Texas - The Dallas Morning News


just more proof we need early childhood education to solve this problem





In a typical preschool class, children do very little math. They may practice counting, and occasionally look at books about numbers, but that is about it. Many classes devote mere minutes a day to math instruction or no time at all, recent studies have found - far less than most children can handle, and not nearly enough to prepare those who, deprived of math-related games at home, quickly fall behind in kindergarten.

"Once that happens, it can be very hard to catch up," said Julie Sarama, a researcher in the graduate school of education at the University at Buffalo who, with her colleague and husband, Doug Clements, a professor in the same department, developed a program called Building Blocks to enrich early math education.

"They decide they're no good at math - 'I'm not a math person,' they say - and pretty soon the school agrees, the parents agree," Clements said.

"Everyone agrees."

this looks like the "everybody is jumping off the cliff so I will too" argument.

"Everyone agrees" is no reason to cheat any student out of an education by lowering expectations.

 

[longknife]

I flunked Algebra my first year in HS and had to take it again the next - in California.

I guess there's a reason to learn it if you don't plan to be a mathematician, but I can't think of that many times in my 70+ years that I truly needed it.

However, to drop it because students are "too stupid" to comprehend it, this is truly a sad commentary on how bad the education system is.

[my first year Algebra teacher was dull and uninspiring. My second cared and did her best to help those of us who were having a tough time - I managed to pass with a C+ - much better than an F]

Uh, one more confession - not once in HS did I ever take homework home. Always did it on my breaks.

 

[percysunshine]

I flunked Algebra my first year in HS and had to take it again the next - in California.

I guess there's a reason to learn it if you don't plan to be a mathematician, but I can't think of that many times in my 70+ years that I truly needed it.

However, to drop it because students are "too stupid" to comprehend it, this is truly a sad commentary on how bad the education system is.

[my first year Algebra teacher was dull and uninspiring. My second cared and did her best to help those of us who were having a tough time - I managed to pass with a C+ - much better than an F]

Uh, one more confession - not once in HS did I ever take homework home. Always did it on my breaks.

You need and use it all the time.

When filling your car up with gas you can use a form of algebra. Lets say you only have $20.00 to spend on gas today and gas is $3.50 a gallon. How many gallons could you buy? How far can you drive if your car gets 20 miles per gallon?

You just used algebra....twice.

When do we actually use algebra, anyways? In REAL life I mean-not math class.? - Yahoo! Answers

 

[Katzndogz]

What happens when people don't become educated is that they thereafter have to adjust their lives and livelihoods to accommodate their lack of education. They don't advance, they take lower paying jobs. The lack of ability no longer matters. They are surpassed by someone with a better education who knows more and can do more. Increasingly this means someone who didn't get a basic education in the United States. Or, has gone to private school, or was even home schooled. Certainly didn't go to public school.

This is why we have slipped so far behind.

 

[martybegan]

What happens when people don't become educated is that they thereafter have to adjust their lives and livelihoods to accommodate their lack of education. They don't advance, they take lower paying jobs. The lack of ability no longer matters. They are surpassed by someone with a better education who knows more and can do more. Increasingly this means someone who didn't get a basic education in the United States. Or, has gone to private school, or was even home schooled. Certainly didn't go to public school.

This is why we have slipped so far behind.

To be fair our society is pushing some forms of academic education on people who really shouldnt be getting it. The lack of sorting and technical and vocational education results in people learning something they may not need or even be interested.

That being said basic algebra should be taught to everyone. Calculus? Not so much.
You may not be seeing "x" and "y" in your head, but you are using the mental equivalents, be it an engineer figuring out the required bolting on a truss, or a plumber figuring out how many bolts he needs for a length of flanged pipe he is about to install.

 

[DGS49]

Like it or not, the people who are generally drawn to a career in teaching at the k-12 level are not the same people who are drawn to quantitative subject areas sigh as math, science, and computer science. Thus, you almost never have a grade or high school math teacher who majored in math or science. In the worst cases, they majored in "Education," but as often in some other other "soft" subject, but took enough basic math courses to be qualified to teach it. 12 credits? 24?

And, other things being equal, the best teachers are the ones who know the subject matter best. Which is why good math and science teachers in grade school and high school are rare. If the textbook isn't well chosen, the kids are at a real disadvantage, and may not achieve good progress without assistance of a personal tutor or other intervention (parents, computer learning).

My son graduated in a large suburban school district, and the couple of good math teachers ran themselves ragged tutoring students in the other teachers' classes.

At 63+ years old, I can't remember ever having to use algebra in my life, although I do a lot of calculations. Geometry? Yes indeed.

 

[Unkotare]

It's hard to ignore how important Algebra 1 is. A student's success in that class is the single best predictor of college graduation.

Got a link for that?

 

[editec]

Primary school also convinced me (this was back in the 50s) that math was not for me.

Which is odd given that my inherent math skills (in another age) would have made me a natural candidate as a human computer.

 

[Rozman]

Why should students apply themselves.
They get out of school,get some dumb ass job in government and away they go.

 

[Rozman]

So now the teachers will look better because more kids will
move on to the next grade.The unions will look good and the teachers will look good.

 

[barry1960]

What happens when people don't become educated is that they thereafter have to adjust their lives and livelihoods to accommodate their lack of education. They don't advance, they take lower paying jobs. The lack of ability no longer matters. They are surpassed by someone with a better education who knows more and can do more. Increasingly this means someone who didn't get a basic education in the United States. Or, has gone to private school, or was even home schooled. Certainly didn't go to public school.

This is why we have slipped so far behind.

To be fair our society is pushing some forms of academic education on people who really shouldnt be getting it. The lack of sorting and technical and vocational education results in people learning something they may not need or even be interested.

That being said basic algebra should be taught to everyone. Calculus? Not so much.
You may not be seeing "x" and "y" in your head, but you are using the mental equivalents, be it an engineer figuring out the required bolting on a truss, or a plumber figuring out how many bolts he needs for a length of flanged pipe he is about to install.

Good post. Calculus will certainly not be used on a daily basis by most adults, but Algebra does have its used, even though problems are not set up with X and Y. I also believe that Algebra develops logical thinking.

The schools drop voc ed to emphasize academic studies, then are dropping Algebra? I believe that it was a mistake to drop voc ed and technical as this is where some students aptitude lies and America needs those skills.

 

[aplcr0331]

With Algebra 1 required, the percentage of African-American students enrolled in the class went from 24 percent to 60 percent in the last nine years. For Latinos, that tripled to 63 percent.

It's hard to ignore how important Algebra 1 is. A student's success in that class is the single best predictor of college graduation.


CA should be sued for racism

With Algebra 1 required, the percentage of African-American students enrolled in the class went from 24 percent to 60 percent in the last nine years. For Latinos, that tripled to 63 percent - It was made mandatory right? Why is the resulting rate only in the 60%? And, more importantly what were the pass rates for those minorities?

A student's success in that class is the single best predictor of college graduation. - Where'd you hear this?


CA should be sued for racism - What's racist about not making something mandatory?