“We now observe preparation gaps so severe that instructors must reteach middle-school mathematics.”
I never took calculus. I struggled with Algebra and had to do math equations every single day in order to pass the exams. I did not enjoy algebra. I imagine school/life is harder for kids now, compared to my education 20 years ago. School budget cuts, teachers earning a worse wage than they used to, the stresses of financial insecurity, the lack of hope in the future, the covid years of online learning all impacted children to their detriment. I don’t know what the solution is. This feels like a long term problem in our community that doesn’t have a simple solution.
University of California professors are pleading with leadership to reinstate college-entrance exams … claiming that incoming students barely have a middle-school level understanding of math and other subjects.
The fact they got rid of basic entrance standards is crazy; it results in exactly this type of outcome. I feel bad for the students trying to learn calculus while professors are forced to teach middle-school level math. This is a disservice to every student there.
Wait when the fuck did they get rid of entrance exams!!!
Honestly, if you can’t do the work, they should just stick you in remedial classes until you catch up. I took a couple of gap years and had to take remedial algebra when I went to college. Yes, it sucked, but the folks in the more advanced classes were able to learn their stuff, and I could learn it too once I caught up again.
Unfortunately in the US, the parents/students (aka “customers” at this point) will bitch about paying for extra classes that delay graduation. Standards will keep sinking until the complaining stops. That being said, I’m a big proponent of the community college route with a transfer in after finishing whatever prerequisites you can. Get caught up for a fraction of the 4-year price and knock out those pesky intro-levels while you’re at it.
Then they shouldn’t have let their schools make their students dumb. Voting Republican costs money. Should’ve learned.
I’ve seen people in college taking classes that were more akin to elementary math than even middle school math (generally middle-aged or older people going to school). Of course this being a community college where classes are far more affordable. I feel like there were occasionally people there who possibly could have benefited from starting one class lower. They eventually could get through the work, but that required several hours a day of getting extra help outside of class during a normal semester.
This is not new. I am 20+ years out of high school and many of my peers are math illiterate and were read to out loud in class instead of being required to read on their own time. I taught 3rd year college students in an intro statistics course who often had abysmal English language and writing skills and only basic math skills. Now I get college students who have never worked with Excel and can’t handle lit reviews without chatbots.
Damn yo, this sucks.
I distinctly remember when they started teaching me Algebra, I was only 12 years old. It took like 2 weeks before I understood the raw basics of it, but once I got it, I actually got it!
The simple way I look at it, and what I think should be the simple way to start teaching Algebra, is basically…
Do the math backwards, and cancel identical matching terms in the process…
This makes perfect sense. Republicans have been destroying the dept of education for decades. Can’t have smart people running around.
That being said, I HATED math so much I signed up for tech math cause I heard it was easy and holy shit. It was basically a babysitting class for idiots. I was in class with only 6 or 7 other people and they were the DUMBEST and most violent people at school. Still curious why they even offered that in high school.
Republicans have been destroying the dept of education for decades.
We are talking about a California college that banned entrance exams because such a basic entrance standard “exacerbates racial inequality” (literally what they say in the article). Republicans are far from the cause here. I’m honesty confused how you came to this conclusion.
So you think all California students come from California, and that those students all got so unprepared, not due to a failing education system, but just vaguely due to Democrats? I’m honestly confused how you got so annoyed that it prevented you from the first basic thought about what you read.
