I basically sucked at math in school and had to repeat first-year algebra. The next year I had geometry and that was all the math I ever got in high school. In college I eventually had calculus but it was a set of nonrigorous courses which were aimed at liberal arts majors.
Years later I started looking at my father’s old college algebra book, and had an epiphany. Algebra wasn’t just about learning a set of unconnected tricks to answer different specific problems, but there was a underlying structure which could be built on to prove theorems, and algebra was built up of theorems just as geometry was. It was endlessly fascinating to me that you could work through a series of diagrams and intermediate equations, and prove the volume of a sphere or cone. I still sort of suck at math, but I don’t suck quite so hard.
groman, I think you’re right about the standard process of math education not fitting a lot of people. Algebra and geometry were taught as two completely different subjects–they should be taught together IMO.
cat39645, I work at a community college, and lots of students are in the same boat you’re in with regards to math. Have you spoken with an advisor or a career counselor yet? Is there a math lab where you can get tutoring? There are probably lots of folks on campus who can tell you what you can do with an Associate’s degree or help you find the right math class. Good luck!
The first thing to remember is that a 4 year degree can help you lord it over those better qualified that have no degree. The power structure is made up of degreed individuals. Not necessarily qualified, but degreed.
Also, if you are young enough, the state will usually have a good sampling of jobs for people that have any old degree.
Once you have your four year degree, then start doing what you want. You will find the 4 years go by quickly, and the chance to hang with better ‘educated’ people is a substantial asset/qualification in itself. ( I once went out on a first date with a real babe, when i had only 60 hours of college. She introduced me to her friends, and guess what the main topic was after what did I do for a living? Imagine how scummy I felt; then, imagine it happening to you.Then imagine the friends patronizing you and your heretofore-quite-agreeable date feeling uncomfortable because of…YOU. It doesn’t take a PhD to know what the next step was.)
Also, I want to find out what friedo read for that hot job, and what kind of job it is! I found out, bitterly, that a liberal arts degree is worthless, in and of itself, and that self study is generally the best way to go.
I also suggest skipping the career counselor at the college. If they were so smart, they wouldn’t be advising a bunch of college kids.
For the math, I agree with the previous post that says go with Statistics if if you can trade out for CA. More interesting, just as easy, more impressive to friends and coworkers (“No, you fool! I was talking about the *weighted *mean!”)
Despite the awarding of credit for “College Algebra,” it is not a college level course. Algebra is something that should have been mastered in High School. CA is essentially a re-hash/remedial visit to a course that is taught in two or three cycles, beginning in the 8th grade (US).
Accepting the current “legitimate” place of CA in mediocre sites of college learning, it is a reality that CA is a prerequisite for both Calculus and Statistics.
There are no shortcuts here. Get the algebra dealt with. You don’t short-circuit an entire degree program over a general ed requirement.
This attitude (not hiring the “overqualified”) is very common in companies where there is no room to move up internally. That is a sad fact of life for some roles in some companies.
What? Do you feel the same way about elementary school teachers? The career counselors I work with are smart, dedicated, interesting people who want to help others find the job most suited to them. How can that be a bad thing?
I don’t know how the poster feels, but I feel the same way. Career counselors usually know a lot about counseling and very little to nothing about careers, making them about as useful for career advice as the chair they’re sitting on.
When I worked at Bell Labs we hired a lot of programmers with AB degrees, especially from one Community College which did an awesome job in training them. Some of them got bachelor’s degrees (paid for by AT&T) and got promoted.
You should check to see where other students get jobs.
And I agree with other posters about the algebra. You might try checking out some books from the library so you get a couple of different approaches to teaching it. When my daughter was taking algebra, there were a few areas she just didn’t get from the textbook and teacher, but got fine when I gave her another way of looking at the problem.
My Associate’s degree has caused me nothing but trouble. After getting it, I wanted to take a break from computers (my study) for a while before getting into the field. This was apparently a mistake. Now employers in my field (which aren’t too common in this area) seem bothered by the fact that I haven’t had a job in my field since I graduated, and employers outside my field are worried that I just want the job as something until I can move on. I would love to move to Dallas and start over but no jobs will relocate anyone with less than a Bachelor’s degree, jobs that won’t relocate expect you to already live in the area, and I doubt rental places like to rent to people who don’t have a job in the area. But hopefully your experience will be different. I wouldn’t give up my degree because I have a feeling that some time in the future, it will finally do me good. I do wish I had a Bachelor’s though.
You said it. I’ve tried tutoring a couple of students struggling through college algebra and both times I started with high hopes and ended up facing the same horrendous problem - their basic math and arithmetic skills were so feeble, you couldn’t even begin to explain the algebra without having to go back and review something even more basic (like the relationship between division and ratios, etc). It ended up being an endless regression reviewing simpler and simpler concepts. If those basic math skills aren’t rock solid, then algebra becomes a real monster to understand. The shocking thing is how many people are graduating high school with such weak arithmetic skills. :eek: