Secrets of the City

I took Algebra in 8th grade at Catholic School. Coincidentally, I ended up taking it again in Catholic High School.

I don’t know how much of an effect 8th grade Algebra has if most will end up taking it again in high school, but there could be enough smart childers out there to take this and run with it.

I learned algebra in 4th grade ):

Don’t worry; that number will go up shortly, as students start skipping school to go out and spend that extra money they’re making for taking advanced courses. (Yes, I know this isn’t actually how it works, but… you get the point).

Sounds like a job for Chris Stewart. He could go around and talk to all the truants and tell them that it’s Tammy Lee’s fault they skip school.

And then Tammy Lee could tell them that they get away with skipping school (and not paying parking tickets) cuz they are black.

And then she and her Limosine Moderates will lose again.

So what’s new? In the high schools, we have the TIPS program to help the kids. The problem is that telling a kid “if you don’t show up, we’ll suspend you,” is like saying, “if you open up your presents before Christmas, you’ll get another present.”

They don’t care. They WANT to be out of school.

And, as a teacher, I have to do this: limousine, not limosine.

I say let them skip class – but don’t listen to them when they complain they can’t get a good job.

Just when I hope the racist rhetoric is going to die down, this guy’s year old video shows up as one of the most viewed again on Youtube

I say let them skip class – but don’t listen to them when they complain they can’t get a good job.

Unfortunately, according to the police, many of them seem to have jobs such as dealing drugs and committing robberies.

And then Tammy Lee could tell them that they get away with skipping school (and not paying parking tickets) cuz they are black.

And then she and her Limosine Moderates will lose again

Don’t hate Tammy because she’s beautiful….and those damn teeth.
Down with moderates! Fringe liberals will rise once again!

What is racist about the video? other than it’s title, which was obviously chosen to increase viewership….

I too learned the rudiments of Algebra in 4th grade, then we moved. I would have LOVED to take algebra in 8th grade. I think even 8th grade is too late!

One of the biggest issues I have with how math is taught in schools is that they introduce it too late. By grinding rote memorization of arithmetic into children’s heads they believe that’s what math is. After years of that same old boring crap you suddenly spring the abstract concept of algebra upon them and expect them to cope with it. Honestly, it would work so much better to teach algebra first (when they have just enough understanding of arithmetic, but haven’t been bored to tears by it yet) because younger children have an easier time grasping abstract concepts. You can actually use algebra as a means to teach them WHY 2+3=5 instead of just telling them it does and expecting them to memorize that.

Honestly, most of the people I know who are good at math and genuinely enjoy it learned algebra at a much younger age than it’s officially taught in school.

One of the biggest issues I have with how math ALGEBRA is taught in schools is that they introduce it too late.

oops.

Honestly, I don’t always start my sentences off with “Honestly.”

Honestly!

We learned Algebra beginning in 6th grade. Algebra in 7th grade. Algebra II in 8th grade. Trig in 9th grade. Calc I in 10th and Calc II in 11th. 12th grade you either went on to complete AP Calc or you didn’t take a math at all.

I was tired of math by 9th grade so the 12th grade’s no math option was one I was happy to explore. An extra course in a course of study which interested me more was welcome.

For my major in college I was not required to take continuing math courses which was quite a relief. At least someone finally realized that math isn’t all that important for real life application.

For my major in college I was not required to take continuing math courses which was quite a relief. At least someone finally realized that math isn’t all that important for real life application.

Totally off topic but totally worth the rant: I went through Calc II in high school, the most advanced available course at my school. When I got to the U’s College of Liberal Arts, I was required to take three more quarters of math. EVERYONE in CLA had to take three quarters of math, regardless of their pre-existing level of accomplishment or their intended major.

So kids who made it through high school and into college without even getting to Algebra II took their three quarters in college and STILL didn’t catch up to what I had completed in high school. So why did I have to go that much further than they did? I’m still trying to figure that out.

(Not that I don’t appreciate what I learned. I’m in the camp that math is way under-taught and under-valued in our culture.)

math isn’t all that important for real life application

most things we learn in college, and even a lot of what we learn in high school, could fit that description if you used the meaning of “important” that most people do (important = useful for my middle management job). But knowing math enhances your understanding of all sorts of things – logic, statistics, interpreting science – and furthermore, it is directly useful to some of us. And since most people in this country don’t really specialize until well into college, it makes perfect sense to teach a reasonable amount of math.

In any case, the average college curriculum seems require no math but semester upon semester of other sometimes dubious generals so it seems like the wrong target.

ooooh, I hate it when people don’t value math!

I still firmly believe that every college student should have to pass a course in statistics before they’re allowed to graduate, no matter what their major is. Statistics is one branch of math very relevant to modern life and the fact that so many people are so ignorant about it is how people get conned by shitty reporting with poorly-interpreted statistics. All it takes is a little understanding of the underlying math and people would be amazed at how often numbers cited in the news are total BS and completely irrelevant or meaningless to the topic about which something is trying to be inferred.

So, in summary:

1) don’t say math is useless! You’re just an idiot who doesn’t understand its uses

2) if you don’t want to work with math, that’s absolutely fine by me! Just don’t say it’s useless! Also learn about stats so you don’t make an idiot of yourself.

tmay: I totally agree. It’s also helpful to understand percentages. An x% increase is often a meaningless stat depending on what the actual numbers are.

Exactly. “In other news, the population of the derusha household skyrocketed by nearly 50% on the birth of a child!”

I don’t think deReshu sould be on a child, especially a newborn. Jason is small, but he’s probably heavy enough to crush a baby.

DeReshu? What are you typing, fingers?

DeRusha.

I love how no one picked up on Tom’s comment about drug dealing…
“we’ll just pretend like that didn’t happen…”

Because Andrew, this thread was really about how well some people did in math, right? OK, if that’s it, I just want to say I got a 770 on my math SAT. I also read A Brief History of Time and Six Easy Pieces and understood every word.

educatin is sooooo overated.

EVERYONE in CLA had to take three quarters of math, regardless of their pre-existing level of accomplishment or their intended major.

Ha, not when I was in CLA. Whippersnapper. I could take equivalents. In my case, astrophysics, logic and I think linguistics. None terribly easy. But they weren’t freaking math, word.

oops, this wasn’t the math thread, was it?

when I went to vote at marcy open school the kids there waiting for the bus were already acting like hoodlums, and one of them ran right into me and then sneered and walked off. These kids are, what, like 10? 11? If they’re already acting like that now, I have little hope for their future.

Tmay, you should have whipped out your Glock 9 and started a discussion with them about the relative energy transferrence coefficients of various bullet weights vs. muzzle velocities. You could have factored in projectile configurations, gravity effect over distance, and correction for windage. That would have impressed them.

actually my college roommates and I had an idea to teach physics to inner-city kids using common situations like that. Drug dealing could be good for learning the metric system too. One of said roommates actually ended up teaching science to just those sort of children at a summer camp, but he never tried our idea out. What a wasted opportunity.

Now that you mention it, drug dealing is one of the few places where the metric system really caught on in the U.S.

Let them play DOPE WARS