Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2012 19:03:29 -0400
From: mark <whitroth at 5-cent.us>
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: [WSFA] Assaullt on education: NYT: Is Algebra Necessary?
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

Don't send this jerk to the supermarket - he won't be able to comparison
shop....

Excerpt:
A TYPICAL American school day finds some six million high school
students and two million college freshmen struggling with algebra. In
both high school and college, all too many students are expected to
fail. Why do we subject American students to this ordeal? I've found
myself moving toward the strong view that we shouldn't.

My question extends beyond algebra and applies more broadly to the usual
mathematics sequence, from geometry through calculus. State regents and
legislators - and much of the public - take it as self-evident that
every young person should be made to master polynomial functions and
parametric equations.

There are many defenses of algebra and the virtue of learning it. Most
of them sound reasonable on first hearing; many of them I once accepted.
But the more I examine them, the clearer it seems that they are largely
or wholly wrong - unsupported by research or evidence, or based on
wishful logic. (I'm not talking about quantitative skills, critical for
informed citizenship and personal finance, but a very different ballgame.)
--- end excerpt ---

<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/opinion/sunday/is-algebra-necessary.html?pagewanted=all>

         mark