Beliavsky <beliavsky@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> It provides the language and
>> foundation for numerous fields, from nursing to the sciences to
>> architecture.
>> One of the biggest reasons for the large wave of college students
>> behind in algebra is timing. If a student takes algebra as an eighth-
>> or ninth-grader, it often means arriving at a community college or
>> state college with several years separating their last encounter with
>> x and y.
>>
>> "You have to keep practicing your skills or they diminish," said
>> Michael Kane, interim dean of sciences and mathematics at Sierra
>> College.
>
>A motivated student can do this on his own.
But of course a student who is motivated in math won't have taken
their only math course in 9th grade, whereas the kids who have trouble
with math have no interest in the subject, and are probably majoring
in a field where algebra isn't used (or its applications are limited
and formulaic and they have no need to understand the bulk of the
subject.
>I took calculus in 10th
>grade and got a 5 on the AP Calculus exam, level AB. My high school
>did not offer any math beyond calculus, so I did not take any math
>courses for the next two years. Realizing that I would need to be
>sharp in math to major in physics,
That's the key difference. I doubt if there is a single physics major
who has to take remedial math (remedial English, perhaps).
>According to the article, entering college students are having trouble
>with questions such as these:
>
>6/7 * 42 =?
>
>-5 * ((-2)*(-3) + 9) =?
>
>(2*x^2*y) * (-x^3) * (y^2) =?
>
>Students who cannot handle the first two questions are unqualified to
>enter an academic junior high school (grades 7-9), and those who
>cannot handle the last should not be entering an academic high school
>(grades 10-12). Otherwise their time and the taxpayer's money is being
>wasted.
If they are a literature or art or psychology major, I doubt it. Of
course your ilk probably considers that even offering non-math-based
majors is a waste of taxpayer money.
lojbab
Bob LeChevalier - artificial linguist; genealogist
lojbab@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lojban language www.lojban.org
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