On May 13, 7:37 am, Pubkeybreaker <pubkeybrea...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On May 13, 9:48 am, Beliavsky <beliav...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> > On May 12, 10:08 pm, Ablang <ron...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> > They should read "The Bell Curve" or Charles Murray's recent essay
> > "The age of educational romanticism: On requiring every child to be
> > above average"
> > by Charles
Murrayhttp://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/The-age-of-edu=
cational-roman....
>
> A superb article. It is quite thoughtful and well written.
>
> I agree with its conclusions. However in today's political climate it
> is not
> socially acceptable to suggest that some people or groups of people
> are
> intellectually inferior. I am afraid that this social climate will
> lead to a rejection
> of what Mr. Murray has written.
>
> Look what happened to Shockley & J. Watson for example.
>
> The article does fail to mention one thing that I believe is
> applicable.
> Success in school depends not only upon ability, (which is clearly
> lacking
> in a large ****tion of the population), but also upon MOTIVATION. Too
> many
> people simply don't VALUE education. And these people have no chance
> of succeeding. An interesting question is whether lack of motivation
> is a result
> of lack of ability. How strong is the correlation between the two?
> I suspect that
> it is very strong, but lack data. Have any stuidies been done? I
> would enjoy
> seeing some discussion about this within this NG.
>
>
>
> > Most people are not smart enough to go to college, but they can be
> > productive members of society. People who have not mastered algebra
> > should not be in college in the first place.
>
> Bingo!
>
> > > At Sierra College in Rocklin, for example, of the 199 sections of
math=
> > > being taught this year, 68 of them =96 34 percent =96 are
arithmetic, =
pre-
> > > algebra or beginning algebra. Most students seeking a two-year or
four=
-
> > > year degree must master those levels of math and in many cases go
> > > beyond.
>
> > > Five years ago, the percentage of remedial math courses at Sierra
was
> > > 28 percent.
>
> > > Last year at Cosumnes River College in Elk Grove, 40.8 percent of
> > > incoming students who took a math placement exam tested into
> > > arithmetic or pre-algebra, up from 38.1 percent two years earlier.
The=
> > > pro****tion of courses in beginning algebra, pre-algebra and
arithmetic=
> > > at Cosumnes has marched steadily upward, from 43 percent in 2003 to
> > > almost 52 percent this year.
>
> Colleges are under financial pressure to admit any warm body that can
> pay the
> tuition. The results quoted above are entirely predictable.
>
> > > "It's the million-dollar question," said Mary Martin, math
department
> > > chair at Cosumnes. "We are asking more of our high school students,
so=
> > > why isn't it transferring over to college?"
>
> Because most colleges don't CARE as long as the students can pay the
> tuition.
>
>
>
> > I bet that most of the people struggling with high school math in
> > college never actually learned it in high school.
>
> This is no surprise.
>
> > > California high schools have responded to the monumental task of
> > > getting students through algebra, Martin and other math professors
> > > say, but the push is falling short.
>
> > > It has educators concerned because algebra is considered a key
subject=
> > > for developing critical thinking skills.
>
> > It's more likely that people who cannot grasp algebra are limited in
> > "developing critical thinking skills" because they are not that
> > smart..
>
> This is also no surprise.
This is codswallop!
Bill J
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