Me too, Darren. And I'm an English teacher. Though I will admit to guessing on the average, median, mode, standard deviation question. But I guessed correctly.
At any rate, this just solidifies my agreement with you that algebra is not an unreasonable requirement for high school graduation. I also don't think calculus is an unreasonable requirement for a college degree-in any discipline. I didn't need calculus for my major, but considered changing to engineering. So I took the first two quarters (I was at a UC). It absolutely wrecked me, but I got through it-and learned I would not make a good engineer :-).
If nothing else, it taught me what it's like to really struggle with a subject-something I had never done before. I don't think it's asking too much of our best and brightest to have a rudimentary understanding of advanced math.
Me too, Darren. And I'm an English teacher. Though I will admit to guessing on the average, median, mode, standard deviation question. But I guessed correctly.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, this just solidifies my agreement with you that algebra is not an unreasonable requirement for high school graduation. I also don't think calculus is an unreasonable requirement for a college degree-in any discipline. I didn't need calculus for my major, but considered changing to engineering. So I took the first two quarters (I was at a UC). It absolutely wrecked me, but I got through it-and learned I would not make a good engineer :-).
If nothing else, it taught me what it's like to really struggle with a subject-something I had never done before. I don't think it's asking too much of our best and brightest to have a rudimentary understanding of advanced math.
JMO
mode? They're doing stats in junior high now?
ReplyDeleteJust the definitions of mean, median, and mode, Rightwingprof, how to find/calculate them and which one might be preferable in a given situation.
ReplyDeleteNothing extreme. No bell curves in junior high!
Pssh, that's nothing special. I did, too.
ReplyDeletePssh me again, Nick, and you'll take your next quiz all in your head! :-)
ReplyDelete