Algebra, the new Latin
I just read that some of our educators are thinking of dropping algebra from high school curriculums because it lowers the graduation rate. Seems a lot of us students stumble over the difficulty of y’s and x’s and the formulas that use them, then we end up flunking math that year and well, that creates depression and depression causes dropouts and dropouts mean bad jobs, limited career choices and an increased probability for a life of crime. Put another way, if x=the # of math failures and y=dropout rate, x squared divided by y over 3= z, z being the crime rate of any given school district.
Down here at South End Central High the dropout rate is astronomical. Plus the job market is virtually non-existent. I guess we know what this means. It means, even if you don’t understand probability theory, we need to get rid of algebra. We might even need to drop science itself from the curriculum, given that 50% of our students don’t believe in evolution or deductive reasoning. And if we want to increase self worth and employment opportunities, let’s axe literature and grammar too. I don’t know when the last text message or e-mail or twitter I saw had a complete sentence or correct spelling. Certainly not both. You think kids need to read a book, you haven’t been doing your homework. Graphic novels maybe, War and Peace, wake up, you’ve been watching too much Downton Abbey.
Who needs algebra when you can Google up formulas and let the computer do the math? You maybe want to bring back slide rules when a hand calculator does everything you need? Oh, sure, you figure maybe it would be good to understand the underlying priniciples. Like the way you understand your microwave or your CD player or your hybrid automobile??? You think it’s useful to know how to parse verbs or construct a compound sentence in a world that limits itself to 140 characters? C’mon, wake up. Watch a 5 year old kid work a laptop and tell me he needs to learn how to read when the computer can translate words into speech. Or vice versa.
When the day comes that our local heroin dealer needs basic algebra to conduct a drug transaction or our addict needs it to calculate the percentage of worth to sale at his favorite pawnshop when he sells my stolen guitars, okay, we can consider bringing it back into the curriculum. Until then, you might want to consider a career in computer coding and forget math teacher as an option.
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