Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2012 21:36:44 -0700 (PDT)
From: Tamar Lindsay <dicconf at yahoo.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Assault on education: NYT: Is Algebra Necessary?
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

- On Mon, 7/30/12, mark <whitroth at 5-cent.us> wrote:

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

If they stopped calling it "algebra" and
just called it "learning how to get the
best deal", maybe the students wouldn't
be struggling.  A lot of people have
a fear of math that is just fear of the
words.  If it were presented as
"solving problems" (the way I recall
it used to be in 5th grade), or
"getting the best deal without being
cheated", I bet they could do it.

=Tamar