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Let's have a war on algebra
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We are presently at war against complancency, boredom, and frustration in the classroom
Eight year olds in the United States have lived their whole lives with our country at war. Arguably, thirteen year olds have only known our country to be at war as well since, in fact, by age five a child can be aware of world events, especially when they affect close family members and friends.
This is taking a tremendous emotional toll upon today’s youngsters.
We need to start another war. It would be a positive diversion from the bloody headlines and news broadcasts bombarding our children each day and night.
This war should be waged against algebra as schools are obliged to teach it today.
Actually, algebra is not the enemy.
The problem is that our students today have to take it, formally as early as 7th grade, though forms of it are often introduced even before 4th grade! Many don’t even know their times tables, even in high school, but we want them to be able to explain and work with exponents, polynomials, and quadratic equations.
When was the last time you had to deal with these concepts? High school, or college, I’ll bet.
There is no “buy-in”, no opportunity to volunteer or sign up, no commitment. The students’ counselors and teachers just tell them that it is a required course in order to graduate.
Algebra is not a one semester class, either. With pre-algebra and algebra I and algebra II courses, it can absorb over two years of students’ study time. This is time which could be spent learning real-life skills. These might be practical mathematics or industrial shop classes.
Typical algebra courses do not foster a love of learning and school, believe me. I have seen it first-hand.
So these kids learn to hate mathematics.
It is painful to watch, and sometimes, as a substitute teacher, to participate in force-feeding children with a curriculum neither they nor their discouraged teachers find interesting or relevant.
Meanwhile, at age 16, when these same students who have been taking algebra since age 13 or younger, go to get a job at McDonald’s, the specially designed cash registers must have pictures and printed names of the food items on the keyboards in order to keep them from making mistakes.
The registers total up the cost of the items and tax and also calculate the change to be returned to the customer.
Not much “critical thinking” involved…..just the ability to smile and know what to suggest so that the customers buy more product.
Enough griping. Solution:
Mandate grade-appropriate” must-pass” mathematics tests which evaluate students’ computational and mathematics concepts skills.
Be certain that today’s students can calculate, even without a calculator, loan interest, taxes, mileage, car operation costs, budgets, stock market gains and losses, area and perimeter so they can know how much paint to buy or how much fencing they need, and a host of other real-life mathematics experiences that they will find interesting and relevant!
Do this before throwing them into the algebra and geometry and trigonometry classes. Some will be naturally inclined to head into these subject areas and beyond, without coercing. This is as it should be.
Some will just be content to understand basic arithmetic and mathematics skills.
But that will be okay, too.
They will at least know enough to appreciate mathematics skills and not have to grow up hating the term “math” and thinking it is boring and painful.
“The proof is in the pudding.” The millions caught up in the economic woes of today, over-committed to loans they have no hope of surviving, serve as the proof of the failure of the present system of mathematics education.
Most of them lacked the mathematical skills to understand, or at least "check the math", on the loan documents to which they signed their names.
Make it relevant. Make it interesting. Make algebra earn its place in our school curriculum, rather than just grandfathered in as a given.
We are at war presently against complacency, boredom, and frustration in the classroom. We might as well take on algebra, too, and make it a conquest.
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