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CA Educator: Algebra Is a 'Civil Rights' Issue. Get Rid Of It.

And yet the same basic fundamental concepts that everyone needs to know regardless of circumstance

I didn't intend to argue that the fundamentals which are covered vary, rather that the difficulty of the courses vary.
 
At least liberals believe in the value of a college degree.

Lol, yes, those degrees in cultural and diversity studies are really paying off!

Conservatives get the real degrees, not the SJW fabrications that don't apparently need middle school math ability.
 
Lol, yes, those degrees in cultural and diversity studies are really paying off!

Conservatives get the real degrees, not the SJW fabrications that don't apparently need middle school math ability.

Sorry son. This liberal has a business degree. My liberal wife has a Law degree. My two daughters both have degrees. One is an RN, the other a marketing degree.

Your contention is pure unadulterated and uneducated bull****.

How so very conservative of you. Just make **** up like your beloved cheeto..
 
If you think math is a civil rights issue then math is wasted on you.


Community colleges don't provide the value they cost. In CA, community colleges are highly subsidized. If you can't get into a real college maybe a trade school is a better option.
 
From my experiences, most failures are due to student laziness or unwillingness to devote time to a subject. There are also sometimes extenuating circumstances like a family death, but 90% of the people I know who have failed a course or classes were not quality students in my opinion. Algebra should be made harder and more standardized, not dropped.
 
I heard this issue discussed on NPR yesterday. It was an interesting discussion. My take-away was this...

- Kids in general fail algebra more than any other subject. I know that *I* struggle greatly with algebra. Once I get past algebra I do fine at the higher levels, but algebra itself is irrational to me. I can't wrap my head around it. It is my educational nemesis. I know that I am in the minority, but I also know that I am not alone.

You made a punny. :2razz:

- Black kids fail more than white kids, and that is used to fuel the racial accusations, yet whites fail more than Asians, so that argument goes nowhere with me. I believe the disparities between groups are cultural, not racial or genetic.

- There is some merit to not requiring intermediate algebra beyond a certain level. Non-STEM occupations, etc. I'm open to that, though I think basic algebra should still be required.

Agreed. Not everyone's going to become a master at basic algebra, but every student at least needs to learn it. Just like most of us don't remember everything we learned in world history, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't study it.

- Really, though, it would be better to focus on how to bring certain groups up, rather than lower the bar for everyone else. Combined with reassessing what's really necessary.
 
Actually teachers don't do a good job of explaining it either. I didn't find algebra that hard I thought it was quite easy.
But it is a bridge to calc.

Math requires repeated practice.
I tell my daughter this every time she get frustrated.

Yet what she wants to go into requires a great deal of math.

Totally agree on the practice aspect of math. I was not such a fan of math in high school and took up to pre-calculus there. And then I went to college and actually enjoyed calculus. The applications that you can do with some basic knowledge of single variable calculus alone is really mind blowing. At least it was to me. I guess it also helped that I was required to take that and much more to finish my degree. :lamo
 
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Totally agree on the practice aspect of math. I was not such a fan of math in high school and took up to pre-calculus there. And then I went to college and actually enjoyed calculus. The applications that you can do with some basic knowledge of single variable calculus alone is really mind blowing. At least it was to me. I guess it also helped that I was required to take that and much more to finish my degree. :lamo

I was a CS major and it required calc. I had to take it twice. I just had a bad semester that year I was burned out and frankly I was fried and really didn't put any effort into anything.
I took it again and passed it. had to get some help from a high school teacher that I knew but that little bit of help got me through the course.

people don't realize just how much math you use during a day. a lot of it resolves around algebra.
 
Asian students have no problems with algebra, and they're clearly not part of the white privileged crowd. I'll bet they're laughing their asses off while they collect their STEM degrees, as California professors say 'maths iz just 2 hard!'

There's more to it than you make it out to be. The American mindset is that some people are "naturally good at math" and the rest aren't. The Asian mindset is that math is an acquired skill, and you can only acquire that skill through practice, practice, practice.
 
There's more to it than you make it out to be. The American mindset is that some people are "naturally good at math" and the rest aren't. The Asian mindset is that math is an acquired skill, and you can only acquire that skill through practice, practice, practice.

They teach math very differently in Singapore than in the US. Children are not taught procedures until they have mastered the understanding of the concept first. Here we try to teach it all at once. Many children don't get to the point where they have much understanding of the concept and just try to remember procedures. That is a lousy way to learn math.
 
They teach math very differently in Singapore than in the US. Children are not taught procedures until they have mastered the understanding of the concept first. Here we try to teach it all at once. Many children don't get to the point where they have much understanding of the concept and just try to remember procedures. That is a lousy way to learn math.

I have heard of the Singapore model. I agree with your premise; memorizing procedures is a crutch. I think that's why many students fall apart once they get to algebra--they just try to memorize a bunch of procedures without taking the time to understand why particular procedures are used.
 
I have heard of the Singapore model. I agree with your premise; memorizing procedures is a crutch. I think that's why many students fall apart once they get to algebra--they just try to memorize a bunch of procedures without taking the time to understand why particular procedures are used.

Exactly! The pace they teach math needs to be examined. The children just are not allowed enough time to explore and have deep understandings of concepts. While some kids will catch on rather quick the majority are not and are basically using memorization of concepts with little understanding and end up with a very poor development of true number sense. I feel we should move kids at a slower more in depth pace like Singapore. It would pay off in spades.
 
Or maybe just admit that kids dont give a **** and fail them for not giving a ****?
 
Did you guys know Conservatism preaches that evolution is a lie and demands we teach that in all schools? Because this one guy I know of said so.
 
There's more to it than you make it out to be. The American mindset is that some people are "naturally good at math" and the rest aren't. The Asian mindset is that math is an acquired skill, and you can only acquire that skill through practice, practice, practice.

But if some minorities excel in math, it disputes the chancellor's idea that math requirements are unfair to minority students.

I agree with what you said, maybe Asians just prize education and hard work more than other minority groups do.
 
But if some minorities excel in math, it disputes the chancellor's idea that math requirements are unfair to minority students.

I agree with what you said, maybe Asians just prize education and hard work more than other minority groups do.

You just lumped all nonwhite students into one group. You sure you want to stake your position on that logic?
 
You just lumped all nonwhite students into one group. You sure you want to stake your position on that logic?

No I didn't, I stated that Asians do well in math, in general. They do better than whites and other minorities. I'm obviously singling out Asians as proof that minorities can do well in math.
 
No I didn't, I stated that Asians do well in math, in general. They do better than whites and other minorities. I'm obviously singling out Asians as proof that minorities can do well in math.

And this is a sufficient condition because Asians are treated exactly the same by our society, right? You know, no stereotypes about how they're going to take over our jobs or be mass murderers or whatever, and thus, no implications for how society treats them?
 
Sorry son. This liberal has a business degree. My liberal wife has a Law degree. My two daughters both have degrees. One is an RN, the other a marketing degree.

Your contention is pure unadulterated and uneducated bull****.

How so very conservative of you. Just make **** up like your beloved cheeto..

Congratulations, you're the one family.

What the hell is wrong with you then?
 
And this is a sufficient condition because Asians are treated exactly the same by our society, right? You know, no stereotypes about how they're going to take over our jobs or be mass murderers or whatever, and thus, no implications for how society treats them?

Look, you simply can't blame every bad aspect of people's character on society, which btw , is really just conflating 'society' with 'white people'.

Racial groups are generally viewed based on how a significant majority of them behave. If Asians aren't viewed as being as prone to crime as another minority group, then that's a by product of the overall behavior of those 2 groups.
 
Congratulations, you're the one family.

What the hell is wrong with you then?

The one family? Turn down right wing radio and attempt to think for yourself. For once.

Liberals are much more likely to have graduate degrees than Conservatives.

A Pew Research Center Poll from July 2009 showed that only around 6 percent of U.S. scientists are Republicans; 55 percent are Democrats, 32 percent are independent, and the rest "don't know" their affiliation.”

https://www.quora.com/Do-more-conservatives-have-real-degrees-than-liberals
 
Look, you simply can't blame every bad aspect of people's character on society, which btw , is really just conflating 'society' with 'white people'.

Racial groups are generally viewed based on how a significant majority of them behave. If Asians aren't viewed as being as prone to crime as another minority group, then that's a by product of the overall behavior of those 2 groups.

So you really want to conflate Asian-Americans and how they have been treated by whites with how African-Americans have been treated by whites? If you do, then you are discounting decades, arguably centuries, of history that must be taken into account.
 
So you really want to conflate Asian-Americans and how they have been treated by whites with how African-Americans have been treated by whites? If you do, then you are discounting decades, arguably centuries, of history that must be taken into account.

Which part of my post mentioned African Americans? Or was that your idea?
 
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