In article <gc6rf5-6lg.ln1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, Penny Gaines <penny@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
> Beliavsky wrote:
> [snip]
> > 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.
>
> Why not?
>
> Probably one factor in your view is your opinion of what college is for.
> I don't want to speak for individuals, but it seems that Americans
> tend to think of college as being a place to provide a broad knowledge
> in several subject areas, whereas in the UK the aim of tertiary
> education is to continue the specialisation that students started when
> they were 14yo.
At FOURTEEN? Isn't that a trifle early to specialise?
We make choices in our last two years of high school which can (but often
do
not) affect the courses we do afterwards. Our Unis are more like the
British
model, so at age 18 I started a BA, expecting to major in Psychology. I
was
able to take other subjects as well, and in fact my interests changed and
I
ended up with a BA (Hons) in Russian Studies.
My impression is that our last two years of high school cover material at
the
early US college level, so that the levels of competence are similar by
the
time a student gets to a real degree.
> If you are going to study history, or languages, why do you need
> mathematics? You can get into Oxford or Cambridge Universities (in the
> UK) with no formal mathematics qualification, which if you are British,
> means you may be unable to master algebra.
What, you don't encounter statistics in history? I can't think of any
immediate use for maths in language study, I admit.
> [snip]
> > It's more likely that people who cannot grasp algebra are limited in
> > "developing critical thinking skills" because they are not that
> > smart..
> [snip]
>
> Wouldn't you say that being able to read complex written do***ents and
> being able to select the most relevant points is a major part of
> "critical thinking skills", and is irrelevant to algebra.
Completely relevant to algebra. If you can't extract the relevant bits
from
the information presented, you can't formulate an algebraic expression to
solve. Similar critical thinking skills -- different object of
application
and different form of production. Not that I agree that a person who
cannot
grasp algebra is thick; I think it far more likely that they were poorly
taught and have no confidence in themselves as a result.
--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)
http://chookiesbackyard.blogspot.com/
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