New high school math class hopes to solve problem affecting 40 percent of Oklahoma college freshmen

[TexasTowelie]

State and local education officials are hoping a new high school course will help close a “math gap” they say is one of the reasons 39 percent of all first-year college students in Oklahoma have to take remedial courses, for which they pay tuition but don’t receive college credit.

That gap exists because Oklahoma students are required to complete only three years’ worth of math courses in high school, meaning many don’t take a math class their senior year because it’s not required for graduation.

The issue is that by the time they’re taking a test that will determine whether they’re ready for college-level math, many of them have already forgotten the skills they learned in algebra and geometry in ninth through 11th grade.

That’s been a problem for students enrolling at Tulsa Community College, where only 36 percent of students in 2015 scored high enough on a placement test to take a math course for college credit, said Lyn Kent, dean of TCC’s School of Science and Mathematics.

Read more: http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/education/new-high-school-math-class-hopes-to-solve-problem-affecting/article_8b86e49d-85b0-550a-97aa-594a33c45178.html

[KingCharlemagne]

1. The Math (usually College Algebra) requirement for undergraduates is one of the

more absurd vestiges of the 19th-century notion of the "well-rounded gentleman." There is absolutely no compelling reason why a Humanities or Social Science major should have to pass a class in higher math to earn a degree (other than a demonic Keynesian jobs program for math grad students).

[IphengeniaBlumgarten]

2. Social Sciences use statistics.

And a basic ability to understand a graph or chart is useful to any citizen that wants to be informed.

[KingCharlemagne]

3. That's a valid point and argues for Applied Mathematics. But no way should

anyone be 'required' to take and pass College Algebra to earn a B.A. I have the same type of objections to forcing physical science majors to pass a foreign language requirement. I'm not real convinced of the suitability of 'requirements' outside a given academic discipline, aside from the oppotunities they create for T.A.s to fund their graduate study