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Re:Can progressives be convinced that genetics matters? by linksnapzz on Monday September 06, 2021 @04:19PM (#28437598)
Some years ago, California tried to make it so that you had to pass Algebra II to graduate high school. I think the state backed down from that, because it meant only 25% of students could pass. Or maybe they just bowdlerized the definition of algebra II.

It’s too bad, because I don’t think anyone should be able to leave high school without understanding compound interest-sorta vital for participating in a modern economy. Also, it’s not like we can stop loaning money to the innumerate, even if that might be the ethical thing to do.

Re:Can progressives be convinced that genetics matters? by onlyrealcuzzo on Monday September 06, 2021 @04:22PM (#28437639)
Do you really need to know Algebra II to understand exponential growth? Couldn't you just get by with multiplication and seeing a pattern and learning the FV function in excel?
Re:Can progressives be convinced that genetics matters? by thaumasiotes on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @02:55AM (#28441763)
> Do you really need to know Algebra II to understand exponential growth? Couldn't you just get by with multiplication and seeing a pattern

If you could do that, you could probably pass Algebra II.

Re:Can progressives be convinced that genetics matters? by michael1999 on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @12:15PM (#28446522)
The last 18 months of embarrassing COVID interventions show just how un-intuitive exponential growth is.
Re:Can progressives be convinced that genetics matters? by jhardy54 on Monday September 06, 2021 @04:25PM (#28437662)
Could you link to an article about this? I couldn’t find anything substantial.

Context: Recently there was some controversy about Oregon graduation requirements [0] and social media represented the issue much differently than primary/secondary sources.

0: https://apnews.com/article/health-oregon-education-coronavir...

Re:Can progressives be convinced that genetics matters? by basementcat on Monday September 06, 2021 @04:24PM (#28437653)
I wonder how much of the difficulty is due to large class size. If the student to teacher ratio were smaller, would teachers be better able to tailor instruction to struggling students?
Re:Can progressives be convinced that genetics matters? by robbedpeter on Monday September 06, 2021 @04:28PM (#28437701)
Most teachers would struggle with algebra II.
Re:Can progressives be convinced that genetics matters? by jessaustin on Monday September 06, 2021 @04:42PM (#28437859)
My high school had one teacher capable of teaching calculus. His seniority allowed him to fob it off on someone who could not. She left the profession entirely a few years after I graduated.

Of course, one may learn calculus from a book, which was what many of us did in that class.

Re:Can progressives be convinced that genetics matters? by dorchadas on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @03:11AM (#28441866)
This is a big problem imo. In my experience teaching high school, a lot of elementary school teachers struggle with basic math... And that's where the problems arise that we have to try to fix later on.