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It can be permanent. In addition to the effort of removing standard tests, education reforms are happening left and right. San Francisco school union recently d

It can be permanent. In addition to the effort of removing standard tests, education reforms are happening left and right. San Francisco school union recently decided to remove fast tracks. The union will also delay the teaching of geometry to grade 9, which IMHO will make teaching physics and algebra really hard. I can understand that the motivation of such reform is to improve equity, as numerous studies have shown positive correlation between family income and testing scores. Therefore, lowering the difficulty of challenging courses and removing requirements of standard tests appear to be a natural choice towards better equity. Besides, many of us do not need advanced math or STEM in our profession anyway, why spend so much time on STEM, right? That said, I don't see how such reform will lead to more equity. Studying and taking tests are probably the most inexpensive activities out there. All that a driven student needs to learn well is a library, a good teacher, and a few like-minded classmates. And tutoring school does not necessarily make a difference, either. But with all the reforms, what would happen? Here is what I can imagine: - Tutoring schools will make more difference. Family with means will send their kids to tutoring schools so their kids can learn geometry or algebra in grade 5 and have all the time to study AP courses in high school. Who suffers? Smart kids from poor families. Same goes for history, writing, English, and etc. - Money will matter more. Families with means will send their kids to robotics camps, science research labs, coding schools, professional sports coaches, and etc. You know, things that poor families have a hard time to afford. With non-differentiating test scores, guess what school admission officers will look at? I really don't see how good intention in this case will help less privileged kids. Such reform is advantageous to my ids, as I'll simply send them to private schools, all kinds of camps, or tutoring schools. They will learn calculus in grade 7 or early if they are talented. They will have a bucket list of volunteering experience and so-called leadership proof in their resume. They will build their ML-powered robots or conduct their favorite chemistry/physics experiments in their private lab that I can help build, if they are interested. And in the worse case, my wife and I have no problem and plenty of time to home school my kids. Yet it still pains me to see potentially hundreds of thousands of kids who would get better chance but can't because of watered-down education. And I'll be happy if someone could show me how wrong I am.

dragonwriter 6y ago
> The union will also delay the teaching of geometry to grade 9, which IMHO will make teaching physics and algebra really hard. In the usual secondary sequence, Geometry is between Algebra I and Algebra II; doing it in 9th grade, even with a full year precalc after Algebra II, gets you to Calculus I in 12th. with a combined Algebra II/Trig and no separate precalc, which has long been thr common accelerated course, it gets you to Calculus II. Physics in high school is typically non-calculus based and works well alongside precalc or calc I or even Algebra II; there’s no difficulty having it in 11th/12th with geometry in 9th. It may create problems keeping mathematically advanced students engaged, it doesn’t create problems teaching algebra or physics.
- scarmig 6y ago
  AP Physics is calculus based. Some other points: 1) SFUSD actually delayed Algebra 1 until 9th grade, not just Geometry. 2) This choice was a bit silly, but beginning algebra concepts are still being taught in middle school. The title of the course is less relevant than the actual content, and this was less of a radical change than the course title makes it sound. 3) The actual issue is that SFUSD eliminated algebra tracking, and for ideological reasons thinks that students who are ready to study calculus in 8th grade must be put into the same classes as students who are struggling with basic arithmetic. Every student has special needs, and it's a disservice to all of them to pretend that a single unified curriculum and classroom is equally suitable to all students.
  - souprock 6y ago
    There are 4 different physics tests currently offered for AP. Calculus based: AP Physics C Mechanics, AP Physics C E&M No calculus: AP Physics 1, AP Physics 2 Of course you would need the one with calculus to get credit that works for any STEM major. Without calculus, you aren't likely to get more than a generic science credit.
    - hintymad 6y ago
      When I was taking high-school physics, we started without calculus, but we definitely needed geometry. Otherwise, one wouldn't be able to work on free body diagram, circular motion, optics, and etc, as all of them involves trigonometry and some basic geometry.

dragonwriter 6y ago

> The union will also delay the teaching of geometry to grade 9, which IMHO will make teaching physics and algebra really hard. In the usual secondary sequence, Geometry is between Algebra I and Algebra II; doing it in 9th grade, even with a full year precalc after Algebra II, gets you to Calculus I in 12th. with a combined Algebra II/Trig and no separate precalc, which has long been thr common accelerated course, it gets you to Calculus II. Physics in high school is typically non-calculus based and works well alongside precalc or calc I or even Algebra II; there’s no difficulty having it in 11th/12th with geometry in 9th. It may create problems keeping mathematically advanced students engaged, it doesn’t create problems teaching algebra or physics.

scarmig 6y ago
AP Physics is calculus based. Some other points: 1) SFUSD actually delayed Algebra 1 until 9th grade, not just Geometry. 2) This choice was a bit silly, but beginning algebra concepts are still being taught in middle school. The title of the course is less relevant than the actual content, and this was less of a radical change than the course title makes it sound. 3) The actual issue is that SFUSD eliminated algebra tracking, and for ideological reasons thinks that students who are ready to study calculus in 8th grade must be put into the same classes as students who are struggling with basic arithmetic. Every student has special needs, and it's a disservice to all of them to pretend that a single unified curriculum and classroom is equally suitable to all students.
- souprock 6y ago
  There are 4 different physics tests currently offered for AP. Calculus based: AP Physics C Mechanics, AP Physics C E&M No calculus: AP Physics 1, AP Physics 2 Of course you would need the one with calculus to get credit that works for any STEM major. Without calculus, you aren't likely to get more than a generic science credit.
  - hintymad 6y ago
    When I was taking high-school physics, we started without calculus, but we definitely needed geometry. Otherwise, one wouldn't be able to work on free body diagram, circular motion, optics, and etc, as all of them involves trigonometry and some basic geometry.