Terrapin Tables

- I get paid to move words around, never numbers,
- I do not enjoy math at all,
- I only passed college Algebra because I was one of the only kids in the class (at Anne Arundel) who would occasionally answer questions and wouldn't laugh directly in the face of our velcro-shoed, same-sweater-every-day Indian prof.

That being said, every single person in every single school system needs to pass a high-school level algebra class. Make people use their brains. The end.

I agree that high school students should be required to take Algebra. I am not sure how fair it is for a kid to be prevented from graduating high school because he or she cannot pass the class, especially after taking it 6 times. Preventing someone from getting into college because they cannot pass it is fine as far as I am concerned. Perhaps the way it is taught needs to be addressed.
"At Cal State Northridge, the largest supplier of new teachers to Los Angeles Unified, 35% of future elementary school instructors earned Ds or Fs in their first college-level math class last year."
If you go to this page, you can take a sample algebra test. I got a 56%, just before blood started shooting out of my ears.

Whether or not algebra should be required for graduation depends on what a high school diploma should represent. Is it just showing that you've attended school for 12 years, or that you have some mastery of basic concepts? Algebra is very basic math, just like being able to write page long essays is a very simple language skill, and knowing where major countries are located is basic geography. These are the types of things that pretty much everybody should know and be able to do. (I think it's especially important in a democracy- you can't make responsible votes if you don't understand what you're voting about.) On the other hand, I read some comments on another blog that maybe instead of having to demonstrate mastery in all areas (math, science, history, geography, language, etc.), that students should only have to demonstrate mastery in a certain number of areas. That way, if a student really does have a major problem or learning disability in one area, they could still graduate.

But, the main problem is the quality of education, not shortcomings of the students.

I got the first four of those test questions right, then they got hard, and then I just started guessing. It's pretty much how I handled all my algebra tests. I got a 31% when it was all said and done. Yes, every guess was incorrect.

Fatboy's right, the failing is in the education system. I never gave a goddamn about math, so I did poorly, but I was interested in and did well in English and art-type stuff. So, it would have beeen nice if the system could adapt to te needs of students: I display a basic compentency in math, then take all kinds of creative-type stuff. Fatboy and Rick slap around finger paints for a week or two, then go fuck with Fermat and hoverbikes. It'd be an interesting way to do it, but we can even educate well when reverting to the default "everyone takes these classes" system, so forget trying to create, pay for, and sustain an active, considerate education system.

Jeff, are you guys homeschooling Alex? It feels like you would, except I imagine that would require you to make like bazillion thousand dollars a year so Irma could stay home.

No, we're not homeschooling her. Personally, I've always felt that one of the most important things that children learn in school is social interaction, and homeschooling can't compete with a real school with a few hundred kids for that. So I never really even entertained the idea. We do, however, try to spend a lot of time with her going over her homework and doing extra educational activities. She really likes doing experiments with me (probably about half of our experiments are different ways of mixing vinegar and baking soda, but I try to throw in some other ones here and there - like last week we played around with water and plastic tubing for her to learn about water and air pressure, and this week we disolved an egg shell in vinegar; I think we're going to try to make crystals this weekend). And she really likes watching the Discovery type channels, especially Animal Planet and National Geographic Channel (at least when she's not watching cartoons). I also bought her those Muzzy videos to help her learn Spanish, and with Irma being Mexican and me being almost fluent, we can really help her out quite a bit with it. So no, we don't home school her, but we do encourage her to pursue educational activities outside of school.

Social interaction? None of us have any social skills, and we turned out fine. Except for the alcoholism and superhero-like ability to repel women. And the propensity to sing Bon Jovi in a public place. And the fact that 63% of us wish I had just typed "pubic place," because that's funnier. And whatver happened to Kay Ballard? You know, if you had a cold and you said "Ballard," it would sound like "mallard."

Shit, that should have read, "but we CAN'T even educate well when reverting to the default "everyone takes these classes" system"

That's cool that Alex is enjoying the nerd stuff at an early age. You'll probably get her a chemistry set and having her building model rockets within a year.

And I don't really have much to contribute to this discussion as anything I say should be obvious. Algebra is important for a well-rounded, basic education. All of us use basic algebra all the time, and everyone should be aware of how everyday math works (like interest on a loan). Sure, you don't need to find the roots of an equation in your day to day life (which was 80% of that test), but it teaches you concepts, and that kind of mental exercise is good.

It's not like I ever need to spell "loquacious" or that I need to know that Rober Fulton invented the steamboat, but that doesn't mean English and history weren't important.

Hey Rick, what's the square root of this apartment?