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My last 2 years of high school my parents moved to an affluent area where 70% of the kids had a 3.0 or better. I was an uninterested student who admittedly didn

by S_A_P 5y ago

My last 2 years of high school my parents moved to an affluent area where 70% of the kids had a 3.0 or better. I was an uninterested student who admittedly didn’t try very hard. However I did take advanced math in high school. As a result I had to go to community college and transfer into my alma mater in college. (TAMU) when I got there I met a friend group from a rural border town of Texas. Not only did they get academic scholarships they were accepted as first year freshman. However they had little to no grasp of pre-algebra and especially fractions. All of them across the board had no idea how to add/subtract or find LCM. I don’t think these were dumb people. It did open my eyes to the difference in education quality in the US. I say all of that to say that while anecdotal seems plausible. One very distinct error they made was to see a high number denominator as being bigger than a lower number denominator.

mywittyname 5y ago
Math is easy to forget because it often goes unused for years. Pre-algebra was likely taught to these people early, maybe at the age of 11 or 12. It isn't crazy to think they largely forgot about this six years on. Of course, it doesn't help that mathematics is treated as second-class in standardized testing. You can hand-wave away a low math score as long as you're avoiding a technical major, unlike, say English (assuming America here). I will admit to having to re-learn how logarithms work nearly every time I use them. And each time, it's pretty obvious based on the websites I see with instructions that logs are taught to like sixth graders.
at_a_remove 5y ago
I was a private tutor for quite some time, largely specializing in math. I can tell you with complete sincerity that for most students who have any math issues, fractions were their first stumbling block, and it is typically left unaddressed and festering. Going back, addressing the issue, working toward a full unconscious mastery, then working forward again was the often painful solution.

by S_A_P 5y ago

mywittyname 5y ago

Math is easy to forget because it often goes unused for years. Pre-algebra was likely taught to these people early, maybe at the age of 11 or 12. It isn't crazy to think they largely forgot about this six years on. Of course, it doesn't help that mathematics is treated as second-class in standardized testing. You can hand-wave away a low math score as long as you're avoiding a technical major, unlike, say English (assuming America here). I will admit to having to re-learn how logarithms work nearly every time I use them. And each time, it's pretty obvious based on the websites I see with instructions that logs are taught to like sixth graders.

at_a_remove 5y ago

I was a private tutor for quite some time, largely specializing in math. I can tell you with complete sincerity that for most students who have any math issues, fractions were their first stumbling block, and it is typically left unaddressed and festering. Going back, addressing the issue, working toward a full unconscious mastery, then working forward again was the often painful solution.