Berkeley: "Algebra is good enough for us!"

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1

<p>(From UC Berkeley's articulation agreement with a local community college)</p>

<p>Complete courses articulated for the Quantitative Reasoning Requirement at
Berkeley. </p>

<p>Courses that satisfy QR requirement: </p>

<pre><code> |MATH 80 Probability and (4)
| Statistics
|MATH 90 Advanced Algebra (4)
|MATH 97 Precalculus (5)
|MATH 100A Short Calculus I (3)
|MATH 100B Short Calculus II (3)
</code></pre>

<p>Algebra!? </p>

<p>What do you think?</p>

2

<p>Math 90 at Berkeley is a hard-core course. Advanced algebra at a community college could vary quite a bit. </p>

<p>Math 90 course description:

</p>

3

<p>my$0.02, I think you two are looking at different things. I think those courses are from the community college, not from Berkeley. There is nothing by the numbers 80, 97, 100A or 100B. Additionally, the name from Math 90 listed in the OP does not correspond to the title of H90 which is Honors Undergraduate Seminar in Mathematical Problem Solving. Nor do the number of credits match (1 rather than 4).</p>

4

<p>Vlad,</p>

<p>You are right; I believe OP is looking at the CCSF transfer courses that meet the California QR requirements. The Complete courses articulated for the Quantitative Reasoning Requirement at Berkeley varies from institution to institution - most courses listed are statistics, intro calculus, linear algebra, intro programming and the like.</p>

<p>See [Office</a> of Undergraduate Advising: Quantitative Reasoning](<a href=“http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirement/qr.html]Office”>http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirement/qr.html)</p>

<p>OP is correct in that advanced algebra (Math 90) from CCSF meets the QR requirement, but this appears to be an exception to the general rule for transfer credits. A cursory survey of QR transfer requirements at [ASSIST[/url</a>] will show that UCB generally requires pre-calculus, statistics, calculus, or intro programming.</p>

<p>Here is an example for Allan Hancock transfers to UCB:

</p>

<p>Here is the list for CCSF transfers:

</p>

<p>BTW, the syllabus for CCSF Math 90 looks decent. See <a href=“http://www.ccsf.edu/content/ccsf/en/educational-programs/school-and-departments/school-of-science-and-mathematics/mathematics/courses/_jcr_content/contentparsys/download_17/file.res/MATH-90-Advanced-Algebra.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ccsf.edu/content/ccsf/en/educational-programs/school-and-departments/school-of-science-and-mathematics/mathematics/courses/_jcr_content/contentparsys/download_17/file.res/MATH-90-Advanced-Algebra.pdf](<a href=“Welcome to ASSIST”>Welcome to ASSIST)</a>
H90 looks like a great course.</p>

5

<p>See [What</a> Will They Learn](<a href=“http://whatwilltheylearn.com/]What”>http://whatwilltheylearn.com/) to compare core curriculum requirements of American colleges.</p>

6

<p>Math 90 looks like an algebra 2 course, based on what’s mentioned in the syllabus. I’m astonished UCB would allow such a course to substitute for its requirement, even if just in one case. </p>

<p>Is an algebra 2 course really considered “college math” now?</p>

7

<p>No. But the QR requirement does not require college level math:</p>

<p>[Office</a> of Undergraduate Advising: Quantitative Reasoning](<a href=“http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirement/qr.html]Office”>http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirement/qr.html)</p>

<p>It is likely a holdover from when Berkeley (and colleges in general) were much less selective. These days, it is likely rare that any student (freshman or transfer) who can get admitted to Berkeley will not have already fulfilled the QR requirement before starting.</p>

<p>Note that this is only for the College of Letters and Science division. The College of Engineering, College of Chemistry, and School of Business Administration have calculus or higher level math requirements, as do some majors in the College of Letters and Science.</p>

8

<p>Then it appears UCB has become much more “accommodating.” </p>

<p>The University of California once required calculus. See this link:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.math.ucla.edu/ugrad/courses/math1/math1index.pdf[/url]”>http://www.math.ucla.edu/ugrad/courses/math1/math1index.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Have standards gone that far downhill?</p>

9

<p>For most jobs for the rest of your life all you might need in math is easily covered in basic Algebra. And in many real jobs you do not even need that. That includes most lawyers, doctors and other professions outside engineering.</p>

10

<p>That document from UCLA says nothing about campuses other than UCLA. Berkeley L&S QR requirement has only required high school level math for decades. Indeed, UCLA L&S QR requirement can be satisfied by SAT scores, indicating that true college level math is not required: [College</a> of Letters and Science: College Requirements](<a href=“http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/catalog/catalog11-12-41d.htm]College”>http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/catalog/catalog11-12-41d.htm)</p>

<p>Of course, some schools, like Brown and Amherst, do not even have that as a graduation requirement.</p>

<p>One could argue that perhaps there should be greater math/statistics/logic course requirements for college graduation, but lack of such beyond the high school level is quite common as it is now.</p>

11

<p>Not even all engineering needs Calculus. My mom is a computer engineer and she says she never used Calculus after college. She has worked on many secret government projects, so not all engineering is math heavy.</p>

12

<p>Personally I think a good stats and or probability class is much more useful in life after college than calc and other advanced math.</p>

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<p>Re: #11</p>

<p>CS tends not to use much calculus, but can use other advanced math (e.g. abstract algebra and number theory for cryptography) and tends to need the same type of thinking that one uses to think about math.</p>

14

<p>I think the key is that the requirement is different based on which college within USC the student will be attending. </p>

<p>Example - At S2’s school there are 3 different levels of intro to physics or chem . 1)for education majors. 2) liberal arts majors and 3) STEM majors</p>

<p>I also agree that a stats class could benefit most students.</p>

15

<p>Actually, it is not too surprising that colleges in the US do not have particularly high math standards for everyone, given the poor quality of high school math education in the US.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Berkeley has four different versions of introductory physics:</p>

<ul>
<li>for non-majors (“for future presidents”, 1 semester)</li>
<li>for biology and architecture majors and pre-meds (2 semesters)</li>
<li>for physics, chemistry, and engineering majors (3 semesters)</li>
<li>honors version for physics, chemistry, and engineering majors (3 semesters)</li>
</ul>

16

<p>At my top college, many years ago, you could take Music Theory, Logic (in the philosophy department), basic stats, and many other things for your QR requirement. I’m not sure any of them were more challenging than Algebra 2.</p>

<p>The point of a QR requirement isn’t to develop high level math skills. It’s to encourage kids to explore that kind of thinking. Many students at Community College are bright and motivated but had crappy high school educations or a long break since high school. For them, getting back into school, and taking a college level math class is an achievement, and probably all they need in that area if they’re going to go on to study literature or some other unrelated field.</p>