I recently had a dust-up on Facebook with a relative who shared a meme saying that high schools should stop teaching Algebra 2 and replace it with practical things like budgeting, opening bank accounts, applying for loans, etc. At first I thought he meant that Algebra 2 should not be required for graduation; I pointed out that most high schools have senior year math courses below Algebra 2, so it is not a graduation requirement (although most colleges require it for admission).
Here’s where it gets crazy. He replies, “No, Algebra 2 is advanced math and shouldn’t be taught until college.” No pre-calc, calculus, or statistics in high school either. Practical math only.
At this point I point out that in many technical degrees require four to six semesters of math starting with calculus, so pushing Algebra 2 to college would add at least a year to a degree program. Also the last thing we should be doing is to make our kids less prepared graduates than they already are. At this point he lost his shit: “This is my opinion, what right do you have to question it” and similar statements.
He is a bit on the right wing (how far I’m really not sure) and this is the kind of response I get whenever I use facts and logic on a Trump supporter. But can this possibly be a political issue? I cannot believe that any person right, left, or center could think dumbing down high school to at least pre-Cold War levels is a good idea.
Is there actually such a movement in the US?
ETA: To clarify: I am asking about removing everything from Algebra 2 on up from the curriculum, not just removing Algebra 2 from the graduation requirements.
Why should schools be teaching kids how to balance a checkbook, create and manage a budget, apply for a loan, etc. Shouldn’t parents be teaching them that stuff?
I almost failed Algebra 2, and I think that’s crazy talk. I think it’s reasonable to say that some kids are pushed into it to early, but we’re talking about something that would cause a lot of kids to be finished with math before they even started high school (our oldest took Algebra 2 in 8th grade).
How much time would your relative devote to teaching this stuff? He wants to eliminate Algebra 2, Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus and Calculus to make room for it? It doesn’t sound like you’d need much more than a month to cover it all. I mean, you don’t really need to cover “balancing a checkbook” as I doubt people even do that nowadays. Most financial management is entirely online nowadays.
I hear the stuff about how schools should teach the personal finance stuff all the time. It’s a very common complaint about modern education. I’ve never heard that it should take the place of a specific class. It sounds like someone who wasn’t very good at math in high school and is resentful about their experience.
Are you sure that you and he are talking about the same thing when you talk about Algebra 2? As a high school senior, I took a one-semester class called Algebra II. In practice, only college-bound seniors could take it because its prerequisites were one full year of algebra I, one full year of geometry, and one full year of trigonometry. If memory serves (and this was 30 years ago), it covered topics like sequences, summations, vectors, and matrices. It was a prerequisite to the highest level math class they offered, a one-semester course on introductory (mostly differential) calculus.
In our county, high schoolers are required to take a short online personal finance course at some point. It doesn’t take the place of the many advanced math courses kids can take on the way to college. Both are possible.
I’ve learned not to argue with relatives, especially these days.
If schools didn’t spend so much time teaching kids the things their parents should have been teaching them you’d have time to for Algebra 9 classes.
Whenever discussing what’s wrong or what should change in basic education everything we discuss is in lieu of parents bothering to make sure their kids get a decent education.
I have a child in high school in middle class America right now. His school requires to graduate 4 credits of math, including one credit of algebra II or equivalent; and a half credit of financial literacy. The financial literacy credit is either personal fiance or economics. Additionally, the financial literacy requirement is state based, not school.
So, students are taking both. Turns out kids are kind of smart.
The personal finance course description includes the following:
Students will learn basic money management strategies including budgeting and properly handling credit. Students will be introduced to all types of investments classification that are necessary to achieve a balanced portfolio. This class is real world oriented and students will complete several projects including a reality-based budget project and stock market simulation. This course will help prepare students for the financial decisions they will face during and after high school.
Seems like good information to arm young adults with.
What could you possibly spend a year of trigonometry on? When I took the one semester course, half of it was devoted to things like trig identities and half to the most boring possible calculations using table look up which would be utterly useless these days.
When I was in HS there was no calculus taught except that they were doing AP as an experiment (that was in 1953-54).
Yes. I get so tired of seeing all those “Schools should teach a class called ‘Life’” posts on Facebook. They do teach those things and more (like creating resumes) to freshmen - and I mean ninth graders, not first year college. At my school most of it is covered in a class called “Career and Life Planning” that everyone is required to take, and most do their freshman year.
I don’t think any state is considering removing algebra 2 and higher classes from curricula. They may be reverting a bit in their graduation requirements, though. Starting in the late 80’s, Georgia got on a kick of piling on more requirements to graduate, including algebra 2 or “its equivalent.” Algebra 2 is clearly NOT needed in many career tracks, and doesn’t need to be a graduation requirement.
