Re: [MATHEDCC] L.A. Times article

Sandra Pryor Clarkson (sclarkso@shiva.hunter.cuny.edu)
Wed, 31 Mar 1999 09:21:56 -0500

Of course, the accompanying problem is that when we track students because
of what (they think) they want to do (now), we limit their options. Too
often we have used that to discriminate against those we believe cannot
"make it" into the 4 year colleges. Much later, when they decide to change
careers or decide to go further in theirs, they have to go back and take
the mathematics course they avoided earlier. For that reason, we here at
Hunter have gotten rid of our Chemistry for Nurses, Physics for Poets type
courses. Those nurses and poets show up a few years later determined to be
doctors and have to virtually start over. If the mathematics is taught
properly, all these students can learn the factoring, etc. and be better
off for it.

My own slant, of course.
Sandi Clarkson

>I have a different slant on the L.A. Times article (posted by Beth Hentges
>3/26/99) from the reaction posted by John Flanigan. Although not teaching
>right now (16 years of dev math through calculus in the past), I am
>currently helping a 36-year old non-native English speaker with college
>algebra (i.e. HS algebra I and a little bit of II) in a nearby community
>college. What I see is a course that has absolutely no connection with his
>future plans. I can imagine a math course that would be worth fighting to
>keep as a requirement (Martha Haehl and others have described such courses
>on this list), but factoring trinomials, simplifying complicated rational
>expressions, solving radical equations, and solving 'only in math class'
>word problems would not be in that syllabus.
>
>I see a situation similar to those described in the article: certain jobs
>are requiring or rewarding an AA degree, but that degree has a math
>requirement meant for future engineers or others on the path to calculus
>(and we could argue whether that technology-free syllabus is the right one
>for the calculus path). The result is that community college math is
>preventing some people from joining the workforce in jobs they are qualified
>for. And those who finally pass their math requirement have learned nothing
>much for all those tears and troubles, except that math is incredibly
>difficult, is separated from reality, and 'I'm no good at it.'
>
>PS: my friend is doing fine in his second language in the English 1A
>requirement for the university transfer program and likewise has navigated
>through college biology and various social science classes. And he's
>holding down a full time job while taking 2 or 3 classes per semester. His
>Algebra is different from all his other courses - there is no connection
>with anything he knows or needs; it's a bunch of disconnected processes that
>will be soon forgotten.
>
>William J. (Sandy) Wagner
>Menlo Park, CA
>
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Sandra Pryor Clarkson
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Hunter College
695 Park Avenue
New York, New York 10021
(212)-772-4904

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