Hi Guys
I have to agree with what Cathy wrote on page one of this thread. Majority of people will never be developmentaly ready for Calculus. Yet we push it, push it like crazy.
From what I am seeing right now it is becoming a norm, not a high standard to take Calculus in HS. It will not lead to anything good.
Even on this site, and I know that majority of you will disagree with me , I am seeing this huge push to do more complex math early on. Why? I have been for years advocating problem solving.
I have one very high ability math kid and another that is right where she should be, being a bright kid. I so regret starting my, then 5th grader - 10 year old, in Algebra 1. It has lead to problems that I was not able to forsee then.
My now 7th grader is in Algebra 1 with majority of other 7 graders. I think that the brilliance of my first kid has actually done disservice to the school! Now most 7th graders take Algebra and really, really strugle with it! A good friend of mine who teaches math at the parochial high school told me a few years back that she is not going to put any freshman higher than Algebra 2. Now, a few years later she is forced to placed them in pre-calc! Sometimes a good number of freshman, just because they have finished Algebra 2 in elementary school.
Now, and do not think that I am elitist, I firmly believe that a kid like DS happens one in a 1000 or less (probably way less). But the parents, stupid parents, see that there was this kid at school that just wheezed through math and they want their kid to follow the path. Last year, when my DS was an 8th grader, there were two kids in his class that doubled up on math. In elementary school! Just because their parents thought that they can't be that far behind Ghost in math!
So to those that still believe that walking at 6 months or reading at 1 year means that one can do Calculus in elementary school - good luck
How old was Einstein when he started talking
Problem solve!
