comScore
Uncategorized Sunday, July 29th 2012 at 11:00 am

Professor Suggests Dumping Algebra From Curriculum Entirely

By ( ) Comments

A number of high school students and even college students have trouble with math. Specifically, these students have trouble with algebra and its offspring. This level of math can lead to significant roadblocks in the development of students’ education. According to Andrew Hacker, one in four ninth graders fail to finish high school and algebra is often to blame. So, logically, we should get rid of algebra.

Removing algebra from the list of required courses would allow more students to finish high school with the tools they need. Hacker argues that the kind of math being taught by algebra isn’t necessary in the daily lives of millions of people and therefore we should not hold ourselves to its standards. Math, itself, is important but should be more focused on things like arithmetic and balancing checkbooks. The focus should be on the kinds of things everyone is required to do at some point.

Hacker continues by stating that 57 percent of the City University of New York students didn’t pass its mandated algebra course. Another figure used to support his conclusion is that only 9 percent of men and 4 percent of women received a 700 or better on the math section of their SAT in 2009. Even with all of this evidence, one can’t help but wonder if the emphasis is being placed in the wrong place.

All of these numbers and percentages only proves that the United States is failing at mathematics — and specifically algebra and its offshoots. The struggle here shouldn’t be whether we need to drop algebra but how we can improve our ability. In a lot of ways, logic and math go hand in hand. What is algebra if not logic?

To say that we are failing and need to do something about it is absolutely correct. To say we need to remove it from our path as a hindrance rather than overcoming it with improved teaching methods, enhanced mathematics programs, and funding in general is a mistake.

(The New York Times via Hacker News, image credit via Amanda Tipton)

Relevant to your interests

Filed Under | • • •
  • http://www.facebook.com/WattMood Matthew Wood

    forcing yourself to learn something hard is usually a more valuable skill thanwhat your learning.

  • Guest

    What is at fault is that the school system is forcing these kids to ‘pass’ algebra. It should be taught to all until a certain age, and offered beyond that. But if a kid decides that they want to study history or art or languages, they shouldn’t be forced to ‘fail’ high-school, or college entrance exams.

  • Clinton Edward Cochrane

    I never understood why a student had to take algebra over something more valuable to the real world…. Like how to save for retirement, how to figure out taxes, how to balance a checkbooks. I took all of those cases classes in hs as electives and found I use them so much more than algebra or geometry. We do need to get rid of algebra as a requirement and have it as a elective

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1674819454 Kim Bannister

    They shouldn’t scrap it, they need to teach it better! it’s not that hard to get the hand of 2x +1 =3 so x=1 …. even the harder stuff, if taught right, can be easy

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002291703668 William Marcum

    Hey guys I got an idea.. not enough people are passing math, so let’s dumb it down so we don’t have to work harder to make them pass!

  • Jack Bond

    Communist takeover plan number 7:  ”Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks.”

  • Anonymous

    4 out of 3 people have problems with math and spelling. :-P

  • Jerkingit

    Please do! It’s useless!!!! It keeps many people back.

  • Addvzvs

    Yes, let’s make this country even more stupid. I’ve lost faith in this country.

  • http://www.facebook.com/paul.pardee Paul Pardee

    Definitely in for your idea of teaching reel-whirled economic ideas, but algebra is useful for everyone if taught right.  I would say we need to teach basic algebra and can the high end stuff like polynomials. I’m a software engineer and I’ve never used anything outside of basic algebra 

  • http://www.facebook.com/zeonchar Amanda M. Ramsey

    What happens when or if these kids get to college and are required to pass Intermediate Algebra and Statistics?

  • Zang

    Not an impossible subject to teach if you have good teachers. Too many of which spend too much time whining (and striking) for more benefits rather than reaching their students.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=22606269 Marlina McKay

    I have to say no, no, no.  Algebra is a great gateway for many future scientists, technologists and engineers. Most people who go into these careers won’t get exposure to this higher order math in any other way. I do agree we also need personal finance coursework in high school, but not at the expense of algebra.

    We need to do a better job of teaching algebra and without it, the USA will be even further behind when it comes to innovation. Math is a wonderful tool and is the only subject capable of taming all this data we amass as we cross from the Information/Digital age into the next one. 

    **Disclaimer** – I am wearing a calculus shirt right now.

  • Mal

    This is absurd. If something is hard, we should get rid of it? It’s not like our country is lacking scientist right now, right?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Z4CJFSWSF6NJQ2QO56FEBHKHJM K

     Yeah!  Algebra is crap and we should teach students how to figure out things like calculating tax!  I mean, how can teachers teach students that the final price (P) of an item is that item’s cost (I) + the sale tax as a decimal times the item’s price (P = I + 0.7I) if they’re busy teaching students algebra?!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Z4CJFSWSF6NJQ2QO56FEBHKHJM K

    Algebra was the only class I failed in college, but it is also the only math that I really noticeably use in my daily life.

    Arithmetic?  Arithmetic shouldn’t be taught is high school – that should be finished by, like, sixth grade.

  • tenpercenter

    Scrapping Algebra altogether is a terrible idea.  I know some of it may seem irrelevant to the day to day lives of most people, but much of it isn’t.  Having a basic understanding of Algebra comes in handy many times in life.  He suggests only teaching math that people will use?  How about compound interest?  P(1+r/n)^(nt).  Or better yet, continuous compound interest?  Pe^(rt).  Someone with no Algebra education would have no idea what to make of the constant ‘e.’  And how about rearranging these equations to solve for different variables?  That’s Algebra!
    Getting rid of curricula because people are failing it is absurd.  Maybe it needs to be taught better.  I love math and just passed Plane Trigonometry with an A, but even I realize that math education is messed up and needs a large overhaul.  What we don’t need to do is dumb it down so that everyone can pass.  That will result in lots of highly educated people who lack an understanding of basic mathematics. 

  • Anonymous

    Math was the only subject I ever had trouble with in school. I was advanced level for everything but sort of average/behind in math. I doubled up on English and history and languages, only taking required math (plus science, which I was good at). But still, take away algebra? I still use algebra and think that the logic and grounding it instills is pretty vital in furthering students’ ability to think their way through problems.

  • Anonymous

    I love science but back in HS, when it came to chemistry, I was stymied. Why? One, I hadn’t taken algebra yet (I was doing geometry) and chemistry is damn hard, IMO. But the good news is that my dad, who was an mechanical engineer and used to teach math (like plane geometry), tutored me in algebra and balancing equations to get me caught up so I could understand what the chemistry teaching was talking about. He also helped me out with my chemistry homework. He didn’t do it for me, but he would help me out when I asked or explain things. I only managed a B or B- for the year (a really low grade for me) but I was so happy I didn’t bomb. I hung in there. It also became one of my favorite memories of my dad. Still grateful to him!

  • Spelunquer

    Typical America:  everybody deserves a little plastic trophy; if the metric indicates nonperformance, get rid of the metric; everyone will run faster with new, space age shoes with swish technology!!!!!

  • Troyldailey

    Oh, sure…it’s too hard for them.  Let’s instead make it an option to take a difficult class and instead teach them Lady Gaga’s social relevance.  It’s so much simpler to make it easier for somebody whose ONLY JOB is to LEARN….That way they’ll never have to strive to anything other than that burger job down the road from mom and dad’s house.  In fact….it would be easier for the nations children if school itself was elective.  That way the only ones who are there, want to be there.  Why bother providing a basic education to everyone, they won’t need it to go online and update their facebook status or to come up with the perfect youtube video…you don’t have to be educated to be famous, which everyone obviously is going to be.  Think of all the time and effort we can save all of them.  It isn’t like I ever used all that world history or knowledge of our political and economic systems….

  • Troyldailey

    Thank God….somebody has a brain, and uses it.

  • Triple Steak Guy

     If you are too dumb to handle middle school algebra, then you are assured to be, at the very least, a relative failure at the subsequent things you mentioned, and much more.

  • Pointblanc14

    I dont want to live in this country anymore

  • Tony L

    As a Chinese, I agree with the Professor. Why study a ‘difficult’ subject like Algebra. Americans should not have to take any subjects that are difficult. Why stop at Algebra ? Since Algebra is not important, the Americans may as well dropped Maths and Science.  Why make life hard for your kids ? Let them study what they want to study.  USA is a rich country. You can afford the luxury of allowing your kids not to study Maths, Science or any difficult subjects that involved  perseverance and dedication.

  • Guest

    welcome to planet earth, where if there is something we don’t want to do, me ignore it as if it didn’t exist.

  • Scrat438

    that is supposed to say we ignore it.

  • Jacebes0

    oh… wow. this is like nclb blown up to epic proportions. stupidest idea i’ve ever heard. i was born in the philippines and they taught us algebra as early as the 3rd grade. i moved to the U.S. for 4th grade, and the class was barely learning greater than/less than. i am not saying that the U.S. is a horrible country… i love it here. but i think algebra should be taught early on… give kids more time to let it sink in. let them get familiar with doing the functions for a long time, without risking as much failure in high school. i know for a fact that learning algebra early on helped me breeze through math in high school…

  • Somethingsomething

    Frankly, I think algebra ought to be taught by about 2nd grade. It’s much more difficult to learn during that middle school plateau. I had the hardest time in math from about sixth grade to about a year ago. Granted, I’m in multivariate calculus, and I’m understanding the material much better now, but I wish that I had been taught the most crucial concepts at a much earlier age.

  • Somethingsomething

    Eh, I think students ought to be fluent or almost fluent in at least one other language (in addition to being mathematically proficient) by the time they leave secondary. When there’s so many other bilingual individuals in the professional world from countries other than ours, we’re only putting ourselves at a disadvantage. It shouldn’t be seen as an option, anymore.

  • Somethingsomething

    And with the ever-increasing mathematical inclination of sciences that are traditionally light on math (e.g. biology, neuroscience, finance, economics, just to name a few), I fail to see how we’re putting ourselves at a disadvantage by enriching our mathematical knowledge.