Education
In reply to the discussion: Andrew Hacker: Is Algebra Necessary? (PUUUUUUUUKE) [View all]The kids should leave high school with some skill in math. They can use arithmetic. They should at least know that.
Many of my juniors can't do mental arithmetic beyond adding and subtracting two single digit whole positive numbers. Fractions? Just no.
Most don't know basic concepts. Commutativity is what a felon hopes happens to his sentence. (At least that gets them some English.) 5 x 3349/5 requires a calculator. You mustn't regroup 5/5 x 3349 = 1 x 3349. No, no, no. And if the calculator tells you the answer is -.9934, well, does the calculator make mistakes?
You don't want to know what x/x could equal. Many have no algebra skills. They get x = 23. If you say y = x + 3 and x = 23 and give them a calculator they can tell you what y equals. A majority might, on a good day, be able to tell you the slope. "It's the rise over run. Or the run over rise. One of those. I think."
They taught them little in elementary school and, you know what? They built on that foundation. So let's go ahead and teach formal symbolic logic to those at the concrete-operational stage. Time to learn Chinese.