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Originally Posted by Michael Hill
I work for the U.S. Government in an area that deals quite a bit with foreign politics. I'd say I'd pay more than enough attention to both national and international politics.
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Then I'm struggling to see how you could possibly think European history is not important. See artdutra04's post.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Hill
The article is a cry for help because teachers fail to find a way to show how mathematics has practical real-life use, which is tragic because it closes the door to many opportunities for students who have unrealized passion for a technological area. A student may not grasp Algebra completely, but they may later find love for geometry or calculus. I had a similar issue with linear algebra in college. I excelled in differential equations, but some of the concepts in linear algebra can be abstract. But it was just the opposite situation for other students. Some found linear algebra to be a breeze, but struggled with calculus.
This is a direct quote from the article:
He wants to take it out to make high school easier. That's the direction he wants to go. It's all about making graduation rates higher. But graduation rates mean absolutely nothing if you learned absolutely nothing.
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You're taking an out of context quote from the article and attempting to use it to state that's what the article's premise is. The article is not arguing to make high school easier, but rather to change what we're teaching to be more applicable to everyday life. A large portion of the third page discusses possible alternatives to algebra to help make it more engaging and applicable to students with varying passions.
Let me make this clear, I don't agree with the article. I don't want algebra removed from our essential curriculum. I just don't want the article's viewpoints being misrepresented and the debate coming down to gut reactions rather than informed conversation.
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Originally Posted by Siri
I don't mean to be antagonistic, but how discrete is discrete? Analyzing the three caskets in The Merchant of Venice? Writing a 5-paragraph character sketch? Do I really need to know the Treaty of Utrecht to understand the importance of its modern ramifications? ...By the way, I don't think I was taught the latter any more than the applications of a character sketch. Is "teaching" algebra, the long, confusing, repetitive jumble of letters that has no impact on my future really that different from teaching, say, Wuthering Heights (the long, confusing, repetitive jumble of letters that has no impact on my future*)? [EDIT: What Arthur said.]
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I don't disagree with the general premise laid out by you, Arthur, Karthik, and others about the ability to reason and critical thinking skills that are cultivated by algebra. In fact, I strongly agree. But what I meant by "discrete skill" was that algebra as a tool isn't particularly useful to a large portion of the population (though ManicMechanic makes a strong counterpoint to this). You don't need algebra to balance your checkbook or figure out your monthly finances. Most people are probably never going to balance an equation outside of an academic setting.
The problem, in my eyes, is not algebra or even how algebra is being taught. The critical reasoning and logic skills that are important behind algebra and that students should take away from algebra (even if they don't grasp algebra as a tool) don't start in high school. The development of these skills starts much earlier in life. By the time a student is in algebra is often far too late in their development to try and fix the issue.