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Some years ago, California tried to make it so that you had to pass Algebra II to graduate high school. I think the state backed down from that, because it mean

Some years ago, California tried to make it so that you had to pass Algebra II to graduate high school. I think the state backed down from that, because it meant only 25% of students could pass. Or maybe they just bowdlerized the definition of algebra II. It’s too bad, because I don’t think anyone should be able to leave high school without understanding compound interest-sorta vital for participating in a modern economy. Also, it’s not like we can stop loaning money to the innumerate, even if that might be the ethical thing to do.

onlyrealcuzzo 5y ago
Do you really need to know Algebra II to understand exponential growth? Couldn't you just get by with multiplication and seeing a pattern and learning the FV function in excel?
- thaumasiotes 5y ago
  > Do you really need to know Algebra II to understand exponential growth? Couldn't you just get by with multiplication and seeing a pattern If you could do that, you could probably pass Algebra II.
- michael1999 5y ago
  The last 18 months of embarrassing COVID interventions show just how un-intuitive exponential growth is.
basementcat 5y ago
I wonder how much of the difficulty is due to large class size. If the student to teacher ratio were smaller, would teachers be better able to tailor instruction to struggling students?
- robbedpeter 5y ago
  Most teachers would struggle with algebra II.
  - jessaustin 5y ago
    My high school had one teacher capable of teaching calculus. His seniority allowed him to fob it off on someone who could not. She left the profession entirely a few years after I graduated. Of course, one may learn calculus from a book, which was what many of us did in that class.
  - dorchadas 5y ago
    This is a big problem imo. In my experience teaching high school, a lot of elementary school teachers struggle with basic math... And that's where the problems arise that we have to try to fix later on.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
jhardy54 5y ago
Could you link to an article about this? I couldn’t find anything substantial. Context: Recently there was some controversy about Oregon graduation requirements [0] and social media represented the issue much differently than primary/secondary sources. 0: https://apnews.com/article/health-oregon-education-coronavirus-pandemic-graduation-1ac30980c9e2d26b288a5341464efde8 https://apnews.com/article/health-oregon-education-coronavir...

onlyrealcuzzo 5y ago

Do you really need to know Algebra II to understand exponential growth? Couldn't you just get by with multiplication and seeing a pattern and learning the FV function in excel?

thaumasiotes 5y ago
> Do you really need to know Algebra II to understand exponential growth? Couldn't you just get by with multiplication and seeing a pattern If you could do that, you could probably pass Algebra II.
michael1999 5y ago
The last 18 months of embarrassing COVID interventions show just how un-intuitive exponential growth is.

basementcat 5y ago

I wonder how much of the difficulty is due to large class size. If the student to teacher ratio were smaller, would teachers be better able to tailor instruction to struggling students?

robbedpeter 5y ago
Most teachers would struggle with algebra II.
- jessaustin 5y ago
  My high school had one teacher capable of teaching calculus. His seniority allowed him to fob it off on someone who could not. She left the profession entirely a few years after I graduated. Of course, one may learn calculus from a book, which was what many of us did in that class.
- dorchadas 5y ago
  This is a big problem imo. In my experience teaching high school, a lot of elementary school teachers struggle with basic math... And that's where the problems arise that we have to try to fix later on.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

jhardy54 5y ago

Could you link to an article about this? I couldn’t find anything substantial. Context: Recently there was some controversy about Oregon graduation requirements [0] and social media represented the issue much differently than primary/secondary sources. 0: https://apnews.com/article/health-oregon-education-coronavirus-pandemic-graduation-1ac30980c9e2d26b288a5341464efde8 https://apnews.com/article/health-oregon-education-coronavir...