(Thanks to Jim Nintzel for the correction!)
The wonderfully wise (and I say that with tongue firmly planted in cheek) Arizona Board of Education has done it again.
In order to better prepare students for the “real world,” or at least college, they have upped the requirements for graduation. Now students need to have three math and three science credits to graduate.
While there is nothing intrinsically wrong with that idea, I haven’t heard how it will be paid for. Or if there is any plan to recruit more math and science people to teach the classes.
But what gets me is that the math requirements—at least according to what I’ve read so far—are Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II or an equivelent. School districts are allowed to play with that a little, but I know that if I had been made to take Algebra II, I’d still be in high school (or would have dropped out because I know I would never pass it).
And when have most of us used all those higher level algebra skills on a daily basis? Geometry, maybe. That is a skill used in many occupations.
A more sane solution would be for everyone to take a practical math class. This could consist of learning about bank accounts, loans, credit and budgets. Students could learn how to fill out a job application (I know that this is taught some places, because in a past life, I taught such topics). But still, in my day job, I see a lot of kids who can’t do it. Lessons on writing a resume would work, too.
The Arizona Board of Education is a reactionary group of people who think they have great ideas, but in realityn have no idea how the world works.
This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2007.
Actually, it’s the Arizona Board of Education that upped the requirements, with encouragement from Gov. Janet Napolitano. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, who heads up the Arizona Department of Education, opposes the new requirements, partly for the same reason that Rita does.
Hmm, me agree with Tom Horne? That’s scary.
Students will not be required to take Algebra II or calculus for their additional math credits. Schools can approve alternative courses, such as accounting, statistics or a technical-career course, if it includes math.
That’s from the linked article, so I am confused as to what is so crazy and reactionary here.
He left out math, specifically Algebra II, Mckibben that is when he wrote elsewhere in this issue, “It’s a test, a kind of final exam for our political, economic and spiritual systems. And it’s a fair test, nothing vague or fuzzy about it. Chemistry and physics don’t bargain. They don’t compromise.” Algebra I, of course, is just a sly attempt to transfer fear of parents to some adolescent brain “elsewhere.”
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=oid:103960
Devil’s advocacy:
“But what gets me is that the math requirements—at least according to what I’ve read so far—are Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II or an equivelent.”
Algebra II isn’t that hard. Consider what comes after it — advanced algebra, calculus, advanced calculus… Now that stuff is hard.
“School districts are allowed to play with that a little, but I know that if I had been made to take Algebra II, I’d still be in high school (or would have dropped out because I know I would never pass it).”
Why? It’s still just math. Sure it has a lot more rules attached to it, but it’s math. Math teaches you abstract reasoning ability. It’s pure reasoning as opposed to its flipside, pure empiricism (science). With a little more application, you probably could have picked it up. It’s a skill that gets better with practice.
The reason math is so hard for so many kids is that it’s the one subject that absolutely must build on itself. You can snooze through a history class and still do well on the next semester’s history class because you’ll be reading about a whole different era. But with math you have to learn the building blocks before you can make the buildings. A lot of people get tripped up by that.
“And when have most of us used all those higher level algebra skills on a daily basis? Geometry, maybe. That is a skill used in many occupations.”
Again, math is pure reasoning ability. How often do you use your reasoning ability on a daily basis? Um, constantly!
By the way, I question your premise that the value of any school subjects rests entirely on whether you “use [it] on a daily basis.”
— Do you use your knowledge of history on a daily basis?
— Do you use your understanding of “The Great Gatsby” on a daily basis?
— Do you use what you learn in chemistry on a daily basis? (Well, maybe if you have a meth lab in your bathroom…then it’s quite important.)
Etc.
Actually, Sam I do. I use history in helping understand the people I work with – not co-workers, but the people I help get jobs. I use what I learned in Lit classes in all my writing. And as far as Chemistry is concerned, I was not allowed to take Chemistry because I wasn’t “smart” enough.
The arguement I have with the upper level math courses is that a lot of kids are not going to college. They need math, but not those college-bound classes.
Besides, even the college bound kids would benefit from a practical math class. These ARE the skills you use every day….
A couple of weeks ago my brother sent me some of my old report cards – mostly elementary, a few high school and my freshman year in college (I sure wish he hadn’t seen that one Ha!Ha!).
My grades were all A’s and high B’s except for math. Those were C’s and in some cases bordering on D’s. Today if I were in school I would be considered Math LD. Perhaps that’s where my opinion is based. That and my third grade teacher who, as a punishment, made us write the times tables 10x each. The whole class went into 4th grade not knowing the basic third grade skill.
“I use history in helping understand the people I work with…”
You work with Bolsheviks? Just kiddin’…
So, your brother is sending you stuff from your childhood, eh? What else did he send ya? Come on, fess up…he sent you your collection of N’Sync memorabilia, didn’t he?
Anyway, you make an interesting point that the kids who aren’t college-bound shouldn’t have to take college-bound classes. Did you know that in many countries, such as England, the kids are divided up at an early age into college-bound and not-college-bound groups? It’s sort of a caste-like division, usually running down class lines, that assumes the working-class students will end up in working-class careers and the middle-to-upper-class students will end up doing white-collar work.
In the United States, the ideal of education is supposed to run counter to that. We’re supposed to be a place of egalitarianism, most famously described by the phrase “all men are created equal.” This is an offshoot of our origination as a nation of immigrants — working-class people who “want a better life for [their] children.” The upwardly-mobile path is part of the great American story: A factory worker has kids who end up going to college and becoming lawyers. (Ever see the movie “October Sky”? It’s about a miner’s son who is obsessed with rocketry and becomes an engineer in spite of his father’s wanting him to become a miner.)
I mention this because you seem to be arguing against the egalitarian ideal. You’re saying that the kids who demonstrate a working-class aptitude should be educated at a lower level than those who are college bound. You’re essentially saying, “Don’t push those kids to become upwardly mobile.”
This argument ties in to many things going on in this country in terms of globalization, immigration and the widening gap between the upper and lower classes.
I suggest you look into the math/science standards in other industrialized nations. Japanese kids, for example, are expected to learn math and science at very high levels. I suspect this is also true in Germany and other north-European nations.
As a result the workforce in these countries has a lot of engineers and other technically skilled people. This benefits the countries’ economies because they have the best brain trust for innovative technologies that result in lucrative companies and exports. Japan and other Asian nations are on the cutting edge of robotics, automotive design, microchips, you name it. They don’t need to hire people overseas to keep things this way. In the United States, however, more and more of our research-intensive universities have programs to bring in the best and brightest from overseas.
So the question is, do we want to continue the downward slide of our workforce, where a larger and larger percentage of young people end up in service jobs, with little opportunity for lucrative careers? Or do we want to make our workforce as globally competitive as possible when it comes to upper-tiered economies?
By the way, I agree with you that practical-math classes would be very beneficial. I would go a step farther and suggest that all high schools offer classes in Common Sense, because it seems not many young people are getting it from their parents. A Common Sense class would include such topics as:
— Skepticism
— Scientific method
— Statistics
— Consumer skills
— Financial planning
— Time management, opportunity cost, etc.
— Persuasion, rhetoric, and propaganda tactics
— General nutrition and health
— General philosophy / logic
— Ethics
Some of the above were covered in other classes I took in high school. We had a business class that covered a lot of the above, until we veered off into stocks and more directly “business” like subjects. (One of our assignments was to pick a stock in the newspaper and follow its progress. I foolishly chose Gannett stock, and the teacher’s disapproval was obvious. Over the course of the semester I watched as the Gannett stock rose and fell in the most mediocre manner. Meanwhile other students’ stocks — in stuff like petrochemicals or aeronautics — were soaring.)
“equivelent?”
“realityn?”
Sounds like Rita could also have used a little more basic English. Seriously, I LOVE education stories/rants/opinion pieces that contain spelling errors. The irony is delicious.
Frist, Marco – thos are knot spelling errs, just typohs. Even teh best riters make misteaks sumtimes and I thank for pointing them out.
Sam – I am all for upwardly mobile, but some kids just don’t want to go to college. I totally love “October Sky”. The best part about that story is that it’s true.
That being sain, there is such a fine line when it comes to tracking kids. It shouldn’t be done, but….
This country is in dire need of quality crafts people and trades people. Were we to follow the European model we could train a generations of carpenters, mechanics etc.
But who makes that decision?
I understand all your points. In fact, I agree with most of them. But what needs to be done- and I doubt we can do it realistically – is to play to each child’s strengths. Everyone would benefit.
But that’s a perfect world.
You have to consider too that in Japan the pressure to succeed can be deadly. I don’t have the numbers but I know kids who fail often commit suicide. Again, there’s that fine line.
PS. N’Sync? I think I could be most of those guys’ mother.
Kids who fail often commit suicide? Horseshit; that sounds like isolationist talk. Let’s see some numbers.
Oh yeah, and
“sain?”
thank you!
I suspect the boost in math is due to an interest in battling China, Japan and Korea.
Then again, what good does it do when really we’re battling India and the U.S. dollar’s fluctuation for these technical jobs?
Math is a hard science; writing is a fluid thing. With math, as long as you plug in the right numbers and apply the right system, you get the correct answer. Very black and white.
With writing, you need to know the finesse of how the language works or else your writing will look very basic. Very grey.
That’s why if you get into proofreading, you can jump into a worldwide marketplace and say “I’m American and willing to work for East Asian wages!” and receive tons of work. It’s because what you’re proofreading is writing work they previously contracted to the lowest bidder in India or Sri Lanka and got absolute garbage output.
No disrespect to East Asians, but there seem to be a lot of them who take these low-buck jobs (which monetarily are amazing money when converted from the USD) and just don’t have the writing skills to string together readable English because it is not necessarily their native language.
My name is Karyn and I’m mathophobic.
My report cards mirrored Rita’s and we didn’t even know each other. I can do real life math and figure out a 15 percent tip in a heartbeat but don’t be going geometry on me. In every grade that I can remember, geometry was always the last chapter in the book and we never got there and neither did I.
When I went to college, I majored in elementary education because I knew I was not going to get the math. At that time it was new math. Don’t ask me now what that was but somehow I got it but never used it.
My father was good in math and geometry. Every night he would sit down with me and explain A + B and how we get to C. It never penetrated my brain. One night we went over 5 problems and the next day those same 5 problems were on the test. I memorized the formulas because that’s what I used to do to get by — memorize stuff without understanding the rhyme or reason.
Technically, I was supposed to get an A+ because I did them perfectly but the teacher thought I cheated since I was getting Ds in algebra.
I agree that not everyone needs higher math but everyone needs real life skills and common sense. How many Mensa people do you know who are hyper intelligent but lack common sense?
Rita Connelly: I guessed N’Sync because I imagined you to be about 25. But if you could be their mothers, would Duran Duran be a better guess?
The reason I brought that up is because you mentioned your brother sending you old report cards. It just so happens that I was going through my ancient papers about 2 days ago and I saw a couple of my college report cards. They were absymal…I was having some rough semesters.
During my autumn freshman year at the U of A (in the Yavapai dorm), I took an Advanced Calculus class every day at 8 a.m. The class was taught by a Teaching Assistant who was an Asian immigrant with a very thick accent that was difficult to understand. When he said “epsilon,” for example, it sounded like “ip-thong.”
This was a recipe for disaster. Also, even though I had tested in to advanced calculus, I hadn’t actually taken all the classes that should have been pre-requisites for it. I had serious overconfidence going in, which was quickly obliterated after a day of utter confusion. Had I been wiser, I would have immediately withdrawn from the class and taken something a step easier. But I thought maybe I could muddle through.
There is this feeling you get when you’re sitting in a classroom completely confused and clueless. You look around, and everybody else has their head in their books, or they’re furiously solving math problems and seem to know exactly what they’re doing. Meanwhile you’re dying inside wondering why you’re such an idiot. I had this feeling starting every day at 8 a.m.
I would think I had finally figured out how to do a certain type of differential equation, and then I would turn in my homework and every problem would have a red mark on it indicating the answer was completely wrong. During the midterm exam I ran out of time on the last question, so I wrote “11” on a lark. When the exam came back, it turned out the correct answer was 11, but I was penalized for not showing my work.
By the time of the final exam, we were doing much harder equations and I was so lost there wasn’t any good reason for me to show up at class. I showed up anyway and looked blankly at the pages of the book while studying the way the TA pronounced various words, like “rogarithmic function” and “quadratic formura.” (I wasn’t resourceful enough to get the tutoring I badly needed.)
I slogged through the final exam knowing I would fail it. I did my best. At the end of the test, I wrote a note saying that I had tried very hard to do well but should have taken an easier class, and please don’t fail me because I’m a liberal-arts major and this is probably the last math class I will ever take. (Which was true.) My report card that year consisted of two A’s, a B and a D. Guess which one was the D?
Epilogue: That year I was still having a long-distance relationship with my high-school girlfriend, who was a year younger. Really stupid idea. We had broken up when I left for college, but then she wrote me a letter proclaiming her love, and her desire not to break up, and I was persuaded. Many perfumed letters, weekend bus trips to Phoenix, and phone calls on the dormitory community phone ensued. When I went home for Thanksgiving, I drove my parents’ car over to her house to pick her up for our turkey dinner. Turns out I was the turkey, because unbeknownst to me, she had established a new local boyfriend while keeping me as a long-distance one. Then she had made the rookie mistake of agreeing to Thanksgiving dinner with both of us. When I got to her house, only her mom was home. She was quite confused to see me there. Oh, fun times!
Whoops, my memory doesn’t serve me well: I was at Cochise Hall that first semester. I later was at Yavapai. (Cochise Hall is the dorm that the nerds got kicked out of by frat boys in “Revenge of the Nerds.” They then had to bunk at the Bear Down Gym.)
Sam, Even Duran Duran is too late. I guess I could be their older sister. Think Beatles….
I was kicked out of my high school Geometry class – the only class ever. The class was taught by the football coach and the man had a tough time understanding girls. There were four upper class girls who I will admit spent a lot of time socializing, but oh well. Coach couldn’t say the word parallel, a basic vocabulary word in that class. He would also warn us of upcoming tests by saying, “A word to the wise is sufficient, to the unwise….
In college,when I walked into my one and only math class at the U of A, I turned around and left immediately. There were hundreds of people in Centennial Hall ( it was used as a classroom back then). I knew I would never pass any math class where the teacher didn’t know my name and feel sorry because I just couldn’t get it.
I took the class at Pima in the summer. On the first day of class the teacher told us that if we showed up every day, did the homework and took the tests he’d give us a “C”. That was all I needed for the credit to transfer, so that’s exactly what I did.
Phew!
Rita – you obviously did not go to college. I got my high school requirements done by my soph. year but by the time I got to college I had lost most of my mathmatical skills. I sure could have used the constant practice so I didn’t bomb on the mathmatic requirements in college.
Also, you couldn’t pass Alegebra II huh? It says more about you than most young people who still have flexible minds that can absorb, learn and gasp! think critically.
Revised. Now I see you did go to collgee but admit to taking a blow off math course to meet college requirements. You are the one devaluing college educations as little more than a piece of paper. I certainly hope my kids don’t have the defeatist attitude that you did towards learning. By the way I hated math, but when I applied myself, amazingly I did learn it. I even got all the way to calculus. Good luck getting into grad school if you can’t get past the math part of the GRE as well. What exactly are you pushing for, students to be as apathetic and undereducated as you are?
heaven forbid electricians know how to calculate energy loads, or plumbers know how to understand pipe widths and carrying capacity, and that carpenters understand the laws of gravity and geometry. shudder.
Take a deep breath cgirl. I said and meant none of those things. I am amazed at what a spin people put on comments people make. (see any and all comments made by one KM)
I think college is an amazing experience indeed. I certainly don’t have a defeatest attitude. Nor do I think plumbers or mechanics shouldn’t go to or graduate college.
And I’ll be willing to wager most people who attended collge “blew off” certain classes now and then. There are also those classes you took because you had to and then you really got into them. That’s what college is all about.
There is serious research on the seven types of intelligence. Kids learn differently. And by making them all learn the same things the same way is dishonoring them and the whole idea of education.
I graduated college. My husband graduated college. My daughter graduated college. And what we took away from those experiences was not just book learning but a more tolerant view of the world and all the people in it.
Rita it sounds like you did your best. At least you went to Pima and got your degree. Gotta love Pima Community College…it has made the difference for a lot of people between “degree” and “no degree.” That’s a door-opening, career-opportunity-making, life-changing difference!
Ha ha, your mention of the teacher who says “A word to the wise is sufficient” reminds me of a lot of my old old teachers and their funny sayings. One of my elementary school teachers used to always say, “I want you to help me – help you – help yourself.” What a great saying!
cgirl, don’t be so harsh. I don’t think Rita is arguing for dumbing down education. Congratulations on doing well in math.
thanks Sam and by the way, I earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education.
So, suicide rates. Here are some statistics.
Japan, in 2001, ranked well below the U.S. in suicides among younger folks. But as age increases, Japan pulls ahead of the U.S.
So what’s up with suicide in Japan? As this article relates, Japan doesn’t have a religious stigma against suicide, unlike the U.S. It’s not something that damns you to hell forever, apparently.
What’s more, the causes named by many sources have to do with the economy and issues of public shame, not pressure based on math educational requirements.
The primary pressure cited by police regarding teen suicide is “bullying” — not the curriculum demands.
Thanks for the stats. Was that bullying in Japan or US.
Plus social/religious stigma is the least of it. Losing a child no matter what your culture is what matters.
“Losing a child no matter what…”
Yes and no. Remember the pride the Japanese had during WWII to operate kamikaze missions, dying for one’s country.
“We believed our actions would please our parents because it was honorable,” stated one pilot scheduled to do a kamikaze run until Japan capitulated to the allies in this article about rare “kamikaze survivors”.
As an aside, they did it for their country and for honor. Unlike Islam, the Shinto religion offers no reward of life after death.
More on how kamikaze pilots wrote to their parents before flying:
http://www.warbirds.jp/senri/19english/izoku/izoku.html