... Consider, for example, a typical student’s mathematics transition path. In high school, a student takes algebra I, algebra II, and perhaps pre-calculus. In college, this student may be put into Intermediate algebra, followed by college algebra, and perhaps, yet again, pre-calculus. ... This is an out-of-date, wasteful, and repetitive transition path for our students. Among these are the assumptions that high school students should take or be prepared to take calculus, and that the path to calculus needs to be paved with frequent and repetitive overdoses of algebra.
I didn't understand the difference between "college algebra" and "algebra I" or "algebra II" and why
college algebra precedes calculus (a high school or first-year college course). Does this mean that students are repeating courses they took in high school when they get to college?
The answer seems to be yes. I did a web search for "college algebra syllabus." I found that "college algebra" is really "high school algebra taught at a college."
I agree with the writer that the path is wasteful, but I disagree that learning algebra is out of date. If anything, understand the basic abstractions that algebra teaches will become
more important as our civilization becomes increasingly technological. I think a big problem is that elementary schools teach algorithms instead of true numeracy. When kids hit algebra and suddenly have to apply concepts, they can't ---- how can they if they never really learned them adequately?
So could this be an important reason for what seems to be a revolving door of algebra classes? Not to mention why high school algebra classes have been watered down so much?
And of course, there is also the argument that when our education leaders recommend a course of action that no longer requires algebra or waters down high school math courses, we actually raise barriers for low-SES students. These kids should be learning numeracy and algebra in free public schools, not learning it via student loans in college. They should be taking each of these math courses
once, and our schools have a responsibility to provide them with a foundation that will let this happen. My neighbor's daughter (a bright young woman) passed the state high school exit exam on her first attempt in tenth grade, and ended up taking "college algebra" and having trouble with it. This is just wrong, and it happens all the time.
