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<p>What also separates most humans from the rest is our lack of opportunity to meet our needs by collecting food and other necessities from the environment. We need jobs to support ourselves, and jobs almost always require a high school diploma.</p>
<p>If the Algebra II requirement is going to stand in the way of otherwise qualified students being able to get a high school diploma and therefore have a chance at halfway-decent jobs, does it really serve a purpose?</p>
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<p>And yet somehow humans survived (and thrived) for tens to hundreds of thousands of years before Alg 2. </p>
<p>Algebra 2 instructs on how to operate on objects of the mind.
Factoring - a method to isolate parts of a composite.
Matrices - a synthetic representation of categorical relations.
Rational Expressions - uh, forgot what this was, sorry.
Complex Numbers - the use of imaginary but logically consistent objects to support reasoning.
Functions - or function theory… the basis of many scientific processes, or processes in general.
Operations on Functions - operations, generalized.
Discrete Functions - forgot what this was… help
Inequalities - more or less, according to some defined dimension.
Operations with Functions - operations, applied.
Special Graphs - they’re like graphs, but real sparkly.
Exponential Functions - how to express generation in a condensed manner.
Logarithmic Functions - how to look at a product and determine its generation.
Polynomials - multiples of categorical mixtures.
Systems of Three Equations - good for developing three dimensional thought processes.</p>
<p>Those who run Texas schooling have low expectations.</p>
<p>Atomom, I completely agree! My H and I work in fields related to finance and we are constantly amazed at the number of people, including the educated, who have little to no understanding of personal finance, loans, interest, investments and taxes. While I think Algebra 2 should remain in the curriculum, at least for potential college bound students, all students should be required to take a “life skills” finance course. </p>
<p>Out of curiosity, are there states that require all students to take Algebra II to graduate?</p>
<p>Yes, lizard, many. Michigan is another one.</p>
<p>what do they do if students can’t pass Algebra II? Do they have to repeat until they pass? Are they held back up to age 21? Are they considered “drop outs” and can’t go to college/graduate high school/get a diploma?</p>
<p>Showing my age, I had no idea. I am from the era of taking two math courses, any two, to graduate from high school. I thought it was unusual for Texas to require kids to pass a state sanctioned Algebra II test to graduate. </p>
<p>Marian, romanigypsyeyes: I was amazed at the responses. Although I was commenting about the value of Algebra in general (not specifically Alg2) and how it can be an effective way to enable all kids to develop their critical thinking skills which they hopefully will use everyday in all aspects of life, it appears that we humans “survived and thrived for tens to hundred of thousands of years before Alg 2,” which can only mean that we humans survived and thrived long before the masses of kids ever had any exposure to a formal education. As we’ve been so wildly successful long before the advent of a formal education, why not go back to the good old days? Why do we subject our kids to Alg 1 or 2? Why 4 years of English? Why not 2? Do kids seeking “halfway-decent jobs” really need to be able to discuss the difference between simple and compound sentences? Why any need for school itself? Why do we “stand in the way” of kids getting a “chance at halfway-decent jobs” by “require(ing) a high school diploma?” Why not just abolish any school requirement and child labor laws and get these kids back into the fields and factories? Aah, the good old days.</p>
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<p>I would have felt this argument had more merit if this conversation was taking place back in the '50s and '60s when one could get a comfortable middle-class supporting job right out of high school without going to college or knowing much math or basic written communication skills. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, those days are long past and IME, folks who hold on to that mentality…such as some locals in my college town area back in the '90s have been having the hardest time coping with the post-industrial economy. </p>
<p>They don’t graduate. Both my roommate and ex didn’t graduate because of the requirement. They got their geds.</p>
<p>Jugulator, I’m just as amazed at your viewpoint as you are with mine.</p>
<p>You are concerned about giving kids a chance to learn, and that’s great.</p>
<p>But if something is made a requirement for graduation and some kids can’t fulfill that requirement, they cannot graduate from high school. Some may be able to get a GED, but in the eyes of some employers, that’s not as good as a high school diploma. And some may never be able to get a GED.</p>
<p>So in my mind, the question is "Is this requirement important enough to justify making it impossible for some young people to become high school graduates?’’ If the requirement involves passing Algebra 2, I would say that the answer to the question is no. But perhaps you would say that it is yes.</p>
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<p>Back in the '90s when I tutored some old neighborhood friends for the GED, I found the academic level was only comparable to what was covered in the FIRST TWO YEARS of the standard NYS HS graduation requirements. From that alone, I can understand why employers don’t regard the GED credential very highly in comparison to a regular HS diploma. </p>
<p>Even the US military regards GEDs with such skepticism that they’ve limited recruitment of enlisted GED holders to a low percentage of overall enlisted recruits unless they took some community college classes or scored exceedingly high on their own standardized entry test. </p>
<p>According to this story in the Washington Post, 16 other states, plus the District of Columbia, require Algebra II for high school graduation, and MN and CT will soon add the requirement. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trend-starting-texas-drops-algebra-ii-mandate/2014/01/25/6f64936a-85f0-11e3-aff8-191f8d178325_story.html”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trend-starting-texas-drops-algebra-ii-mandate/2014/01/25/6f64936a-85f0-11e3-aff8-191f8d178325_story.html</a></p>
<p>I thought this was interesting (from the article):</p>
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<p>A spokesman for BASF indicated that they offer many jobs to high-school (or technical-school) grads that don’t require Algebra II.</p>
<p>In NY you have to pass with a 65 a Regents Exam that covers Algebra 2 material. You can probably pass it without knowing much Algebra 2. There’s an exception for Special Ed students.</p>
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<p>And even doing decently to well on the NYS Regents exams doesn’t guarantee one is adequately prepared for college level work as a few recent local articles about the large numbers of NYC and local area HS graduates being unprepared for college-level work demonstrated. </p>
<p>Recalled one story within the last few years about a student who was placed into a remedial class in the CUNY system for a subject for which she scored an 86 on the regents exam. </p>
<p>So Ive heard Texas and California are the market textbook publishers aim for.
Seems a pretty low bar.
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<p><a href=“Creationism in Texas public schools: Undermining the charter movement.”>http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/01/creationism_in_texas_public_schools_undermining_the_charter_movement.html</a></p>
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But what requirement WOULD be important enough? Surely we could eliminate pretty much everything if we try, eh? Isn’t the point Jugulator20 is making?</p>
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<p>But then we get to the question of “what should a high school diploma indicate in terms of what the graduate is expected to know or be able to learn and do?”</p>
<p>Perhaps at the opposite end of the scale, California only requires two years of math in high school, completing at least to algebra 1, to graduate from high school (i.e. geometry, algebra 2, etc. are not required). However, all of the state universities require at least geometry and algebra 2 for frosh admission.</p>
<p>Some students simply can’t pass Algebra2* I’m working with bright kids right now who barely scraped by a D in Geometry. If they had to take Algebra 2 to graduate (which right now they’re not attempting and are taking a “personal finances”’ class instead and hope to take Statistics next) they just couldn’t graduate or would have to repeat and repeat in the hopes of getting a C on seniority. These kids are bright enough that they’re dual enrolled in the humanities or in the arts and doing quite well there. As for vocational education students… look, I’ve known some to have “trouble accessing written expression” (I think you can translate) so Algebra2 was totally beyond anything you could expect from them.</p>
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<li>Amending: if there could be a very simplified version I suppose they could pass, but it wouldn’t be “real” Algebra2 and it wouldn’t be “college preparatory” at least in the sense of being the preparatory class for calculus classes. However we can imagine watered-down courses where the pace is very slow, with lots of repetition and drills and examples and imitation exercises and problems with one question for each step, and tests have half questions already seen in class and the rest all multiple choice…</li>
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<p>@Sylvan: not all subjects are required at the most advanced level though. It’s as if you required a 4th year of foreign language, for instance. Not all students could do it. Algebra 2 is abstract math and not “accessible” to all. In addition, the knowledge based it requires doesn’t make life better, more beautiful, easier to understand, and it doesn’t train your brain in ways nothing else can. While I understand Algebra 1 and Geometry to be required of all for the logic they teach, I think appropriate alternatives can be acceptable. </p>