Re: [MATHEDCC] Re: AA without Math Requirement
Martha Haehl (haehl@KCMETRO.CC.MO.US)
Tue, 06 Oct 1998 09:44:59 -0600
Another piece that we have not focused much on in this discussion of
math anxiety is the relevancy of the current curriculum. It is my
opinion that our current curriculum does not serve either track
well--the upper level math-bound student, or the generally educated
public. Students can generally pass our classes (even with an A) and
know how to perform a number of procedural tasks with little
understanding of mathematical concepts or mathematical thinking needed
for mathematics beyond cookbooks. On the other hand, students can make
it through college algebra and believe that the welfare budget is 50% of
the federal budget, and certainly have no understanding of Richtor
scales or population growth or how to interpret statistics they
read--after all, they have only seen nice numbers and predominately
polynomial functions, factorable at that, in a math class. No wonder
they are anxious, they have studied irrelevant mathematics for years.
If they are lucky the teachers they had thought this mathematics was
"fun."
Martha
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