<p>Because my son, who's in 8th grade right now, was not ready for Algebra, his school put him in a class that is halfway between Pre-Algebra and Algebra 1 to make sure that he has a good understanding of the basics. That means that he'll be a year behind in math once he graduates from high school. How important is it that he reach calculus before college? Do you think it will alter his college chances? I doubt that he'll be applying to the Ivies or top tier schools since he's mostly a B student with a learning disability, but he may be interested in the sciences, which would require high math skills. The school suggested that he might consider taking math over the summer to catch up. Have any of you been in this situation? What would you do?</p>
<p>Neither of my kids had calculus in high school. One didn’t have per calculus. The one without precalculus graduated from Boston University (ok…in music…which doesn’t require calculus). The other kid had precalculus as a HS senior, and graduated with a degree in engineering and biology from Santa Clara University. She took calculus in college…amongst other math courses.</p>
<p>There is a reason why most colleges offer calculus. Your son will get to college, take that math/quantitative reasoning placement test, and will end up in the correct math class. And yes, even at the tippy top schools, there are kids who take Calc 1.</p>
<p>My engineer daughter didn’t have calc in high school. She tested into the beginning calc class, as did most of her fellow freshmen, even those who had had calc in high school. She’s doing fine.</p>
<p>I come from a math geek family and everyone agrees that it is much more important to get a solid base in algebra than it is to take calculus in high school. If your son doesn’t have that solid understanding of and ability to do algebra, calculus will be painful. </p>
<p>FWIW, I felt my daughter did NOT have that firm a grasp on some later sections of Algebra I, so I made her retake it in 9th grade and she took it along with honors geometry. She was furious but 1) she realized that it was an easy A for the first semester and 2) she later found that, yeah, she learned new stuff in second semester. </p>
<p>True story here. Our daughter was selected for accelerated math at the end of 7th grade. The accelerated track is the one where students take calculus senior year here. We asked if there was some compelling reason we should allow this. The math department chair was dumbfounded. We were the very first parents ever to question this. Since he could not give us a good reason, we declined this accelerated math track. My husband (an engineer) agreed with the above poster who said that a good foundation is more important than acceleration. </p>
<p>Our kid took precalculus in high school…then the whole calculus sequence plus numerous other math courses in college as part of her engineering program. There were plenty of kids in her college who had taken calculus in HS, but were taking it again in college.</p>
<p>I’m not saying accelerated math isn’t right for some kids,it IS right for SOME kids. But this accelerated math has taken on a life of its own…and many parents now believe this is the norm, and if their kid isn’t accelerated, there is something wrong. </p>
<p>i agree Thumper and twoinanddone… my third son never took Calc in high school, Trig was his last high school math class, and he is in his 2nd year of engineering, it has not been any kind of problem for him. Quite a few of the kids in his Calc 1 class freshman year had taken Calc in high school. </p>
<p>It should be possible to take geometry and algebra 2 at the same time as long as your student did well in algebra 1 and has room in the schedule to do that. Don’t stress too much, see how he does the first semester of algebra 1, then make a decision in consultation with the math teacher about doubling up the next year. And, it is not a big deal if the doubling up does not work for whatever reason.</p>
<p>It is possible to teach a three year old to tie his shoes. It’ll take months of work, the child will be frustrated and probably in frequent tears, and once learned he may forget the skill without daily review and practice. </p>
<p>Or, you can wait until the child is developmentally ready and interested, and it’ll take a couple of hours on a Saturday morning. And once learned, he’ll never forget the skill.</p>
<p>Ease up a little. Stop worrying about your eighth grader’s speed in progressing through calc. </p>
<p>Very few colleges have the expectation that all entering frosh have taken calculus in high school. Typically, they are highly selective math/science/engineering-focused schools (e.g. Caltech, Harvey Mudd) or specific divisions of highly selective schools (e.g. engineering at WUStL). State flagships tend not to have such an expectation, even for engineering majors, although being able to start in a math course more advanced than calculus 1 may make schedule planning easier.</p>
<p>If he will be a B student, it is unlikely that he will be applying to those schools which expect frosh to have taken calculus in high school. He should concentrate on learning math as best as he can.</p>
<p>Also, see how he does. If he does well, then consider doing Geometry over the summer or in the same year as Algebra 2. If not, continue on to Pre-calc.</p>
<p>If he is not shooting for the top schools, he should be just fine to get into college. </p>
<p>Just having pre calc is fine too, also, art school. </p>
<p>" We asked if there was some compelling reason we should allow this." If your daughter had already mastered the highly repetitive pre-algebra curriculum in middle school, she might have been bored out of her mind and learned nothing. That would be a compelling reason. </p>
<p>I would wait and see how he does in algebra 1 before making any decision about acceleration. Floundering in high school math if pushed too fast would be far worse than not having completed calculus.</p>
<p>Mathyone…I clearly said that acceleration might be right for some kids. But it isn’t necessary for ALL kids. </p>
<p>We chose not to accelerate our kid, but we are the only parents in the history of our school to take this option off the table. So clearly, there are many folks who find this “necessary”.</p>
<p>Still…our unaccelerated math kid managed to somehow get an engineering degree without having taken high school calculus.</p>
<p>YMMV depending on your student.</p>
<p>Oh, I completely agree that acceleration is neither necessary nor appropriate for many students. However the way you told the story of your daughter makes it sound like you were opposed on general principle rather than on your daughter’s preparedness. </p>
<p>No…Mathyone, I asked for a compelling reason why my daughter should be accelerated. The head of the department could not give me one. If he had said she was among the top 10 math students, was already ahead of the game in math, was always one step ahead, was prepared for this accelerated program…something…My husband and I would have considered the acceleration. The math department chair just couldn’t give us any reason why she had been selected for acceleration other than she got A in her 7th grade math course. That was not compelling…and spoke more to her hard work than anything else.</p>
<p>I asked for a reason…and I don’t think that is an unreasonable request. </p>
<p>The reason was evidently that they feel that students who get an A in the 7th grade class are prepared for the accelerated track. If you’ve looked at middle school math books, most of them are pretty repetitive between grades. She probably already knew most of what they were going to cover in the 8th grade math. Not sure why the department head couldn’t articulate this. Was he also her teacher? If he wasn’t her teacher he probably was just going on her grade and perhaps a teacher checking off a recommendation box, so I don’t see how he would have known if she were one of the top 10 students or whatever. </p>
<p>If she had to work really hard to get that A in pre-algebra, you probably did the right thing for her. Teachers don’t put out a questionnaire about such things before making recommendations. They probably weren’t aware of the effort she had to put in. </p>
<p>The department chair WAS her teacher. </p>
<p>It was years ago, and really worked out fine. DD majored in engineering in college…took calculus there. It was not a big deal. She wasn’t going to apply to MIT, Caltech or schools on that level anyway.</p>
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<p>We allowed out first to accelerate when he tested into Algebra, but did not allow the next two to do so. I just did not see the benefit at all. The algebra I in the high school was a much better taught and stronger class than Algebra I in the middle school in our system. Michigan is one of the best engineering programs in the country and they don’t care if a kid has taken Calculus in high school or not, so if MIT, Harvey Mudd and CalTech care and that is where your middler schooler is aiming which would be a rare bird indeed - take it in middle school. If you aren’t sacrificing anything or if your kid really, really wants to take Algebra in middle school then go for it. But it REALLY doesn’t matter if a kid accelerates their math classes or not and don’t have the kid take Algebra in middle school if it’s a weak class with a weak teacher as was our case. </p>