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California moves to recommend delaying algebra to 9th grade statewide

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Re: California moves to recommend delaying algebra to 9th grade statewide

#311

Post by rxhernandez »

ramesh31 wrote: post #59
nottorp wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I always find it hilarious that the pre college education in US is so messed up. Instead of doing Algebra 1, Algebra 2, calculus, geometry as one subject that you do in a year and then completely forgetting about it for the rest of the high school, how about you do a little bit of everything every year from grade 8-12. Problem solved. I don't understand. US high school kids only do math one year out of the 4? And n…

Math in US high schools ends at what most countries would consider a middle school level. Algebra 2 is generally the only requirement. The vast majority of students graduate without ever even knowing what calculus is.

That means nothing. I have met plenty of people that did calculus in high school and got pushed back into remedial classes in college. Exposure to a concept does not mean proficiency in it.

Re: California moves to recommend delaying algebra to 9th grade statewide

#312

Post by [deleted] »

tremon wrote: post #284
cortesoft wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And Mozart was writing concertos at 5. Prodigies existing shouldn't define how we educate people.

Should Mozart have been kept away from musical instruments because his peers weren't at his level? In other words, should people existing define how we educate prodigies? Who gets to determine who is a prodigy and who isn't, and at what age?

[deleted]

Re: California moves to recommend delaying algebra to 9th grade statewide

#313

Post by seanmcdirmid »

ramesh31 wrote: post #59
nottorp wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I always find it hilarious that the pre college education in US is so messed up. Instead of doing Algebra 1, Algebra 2, calculus, geometry as one subject that you do in a year and then completely forgetting about it for the rest of the high school, how about you do a little bit of everything every year from grade 8-12. Problem solved. I don't understand. US high school kids only do math one year out of the 4? And n…

Math in US high schools ends at what most countries would consider a middle school level. Algebra 2 is generally the only requirement. The vast majority of students graduate without ever even knowing what calculus is.

My wife grew up in China, went to a good high school, but is only proficient in math up to the algebra 2 level (maybe?) considering she took the liberal arts track. If you aren't working up to STEM, I'm sure you don't take calculus in many countries.

Re: California moves to recommend delaying algebra to 9th grade statewide

#314

Post by mixmastamyk »

mturmon wrote: post #295
primitivesuave wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Page 7 is where they completely lose me. "Students are required to “show their work” in standardized, prescribed ways" is a manifestation of white supremacy? If you click on that item, it takes you to a page where they suggest non-standard classroom activities like "Have students create TikTok videos, silent films, or cartoons about mathematical concepts or procedures." I'm pretty open minded about education pedagogy…

But it turns out that if you believe math is everywhere, then creating videos or cartoons to illustrate math concepts is actually kind of reasonable. For instance, my kid drew a rather detailed human face in the desmos ( http://desmos.com ) graphing program using line segments, quadratics, cosines, and sines. Doing this teaches you about what the graphs of these functions look like, and how to translate/scale/rotate…

Pretty neat, but I'd say that is different than a selfie-video. Those can be very creative as we all know, but that's what art class is for.

Re: California moves to recommend delaying algebra to 9th grade statewide

#315

Post by lern_too_spel »

chrisseaton wrote: post #195
threatofrain wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's notable that Cupertino has some remarkable public schools, with high schools that have about half of their math faculty as Calculus teachers, and half of the students incoming from junior high are on track to finish Calculus by their junior year. Some students continue their math education at local colleges. Part of the success is most certainly the student culture, which pushes far harder than the faculty. It's…

> with high schools that have about half of their math faculty as Calculus teachers What does this mean? Is there some special qualification or licence to be allowed to teach calculus?

A typical American high school will not have enough students enrolled in calculus to require more than one calculus teacher.

Re: California moves to recommend delaying algebra to 9th grade statewide

#316

Post by micromacrofoot »

They should certainly correct, but it’s weird to stop entirely. It seems like a failure on the part of administration to create a more equitable program.

I grew up in a diverse city where all the advanced schools and classes were filled with white kids, and it was incredibly obvious that it was due to socioeconomic factors.

Kids in my classes were going to expensive tutors and had parents in high paying jobs that could be around to help them.

My neighbor on the other hand was an immigrant taking care of younger siblings after school and eventually working to help his mom when he was old enough. No time or money for tutoring, or even homework for that matter. I was in the same boat for a long time but was fortunate enough to not need to study as much as my peers, some who had enormous amounts of help. As an adult I still can’t afford the amount of tutoring they were getting, some even paid someone to write college admission essays.

It’s 20 years later and it’s all the same, if not worse, and I still get mad about it.

Re: California moves to recommend delaying algebra to 9th grade statewide

#317

Post by threatofrain »

giantg2 wrote: post #194
ramesh31 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Math in US high schools ends at what most countries would consider a middle school level. Algebra 2 is generally the only requirement. The vast majority of students graduate without ever even knowing what calculus is.

The question in my mind is, how useful is calculus in most people's lives?

Not very useful, since most people don't work in technical professions. But if you want to pursue further technical studies, then that's a different ballgame.

To me, the question isn't whether Calculus will be useful to somebody who intends to study nursing, but rather whether the doorways to other venues will be made that much narrower, or closed altogether. Under Equitable Math, all children must be at the same level, whether they wish to pursue nursing or engineering.

Children and their families ought to have a choice, including the choice to march forward toward their individual academic ambition and ability.

Re: California moves to recommend delaying algebra to 9th grade statewide

#318

Post by seanmcdirmid »

nemothekid wrote: post #285
psutor wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't know if parent has been edited to correct something, but: 9: 14-15 10: 15-16 11: 16-17 12: 17-18

Ah that's right. I should have just written in out rather than just adding 4.

At the end of your freshmen year, you have 3 years until the send of your senior year. See, Algebra is useful for something.

Re: California moves to recommend delaying algebra to 9th grade statewide

#319

Post by FormerBandmate »

eftychis wrote: post #131
bko wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This policy has nothing to do with the topic of algebra. This is code for advanced math, because algebra is typically considered advanced for < 9th grade children. Since the organizations feel ashamed that they're failing certain demographics as evidenced by being under-represented in the advanced classes, they're just scrapping the advanced classes for everyone. Truly disgraceful

U.S. is the only country I know that considers algebra advanced. It's fundamental in the rest of the world.

America has absolutely shit-tier education for 80% of the population, and woke people want to make the other 20% also shit to lead to “equity”. Ironically, white parents being able to get around this and black parents not knowing how is the main cause of racial disparities today

Re: California moves to recommend delaying algebra to 9th grade statewide

#320

Post by [deleted] »

giantg2 wrote: post #164
bko wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This policy has nothing to do with the topic of algebra. This is code for advanced math, because algebra is typically considered advanced for < 9th grade children. Since the organizations feel ashamed that they're failing certain demographics as evidenced by being under-represented in the advanced classes, they're just scrapping the advanced classes for everyone. Truly disgraceful

"This is code for advanced math, because algebra is typically considered advanced for Seriously? Basic algebra was like 7th or 8th grade for me.

[deleted]
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