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A comment on San Francisco schools banned kids from taking algebra in 8th grade. Parent comment

Re:San Francisco schools banned kids from taking algebra in ... by nradov on Thursday March 30, 2023 @11:40PM (#35382233)
A college math professor who taught calculus told me that on the first day of class he gave students a quiz on basic arithmetic. The questions were easy enough that most students could score 100%. But he found that the speed with which students completed the quiz was a reliable predictor of their final course grade. Rote memorization of basic concepts does have some value in reducing the mental load and making it easier to focus on more complex concepts.
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Re:San Francisco schools banned kids from taking algebra in ... by Swizec on Thursday March 30, 2023 @11:53PM (#35382341)
> But he found that the speed with which students completed the quiz was a reliable predictor of their final course grade

Funnily all my college math professors and their TAs were notoriously bad at arithmetic. They regularly joked that arithmetic isn’t real math so not a big deal.

My physics professor was an arithmetic magician though. The way he could take a ridiculously complex equation covering the whole blackboard and guesstimate the solution in his head was a marvel to behold.

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Re:San Francisco schools banned kids from taking algebra in ... by toast0 on Friday March 31, 2023 @12:11AM (#35382455)
You can have either calculus or arithmetic in your head. But, it sounds like it's good to have arithmetic in your head before you replace it with calculus.
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Re:San Francisco schools banned kids from taking algebra in ... by lmm on Friday March 31, 2023 @12:17AM (#35382488)
> But he found that the speed with which students completed the quiz was a reliable predictor of their final course grade. Rote memorization of basic concepts does have some value in reducing the mental load and making it easier to focus on more complex concepts.

Maybe. Or maybe it's useless but skill at it is a good measure of how conscientious those students were in high school (e.g. the extent to which they bothered to do their homework). Or any number of other possible explanations.

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Re:San Francisco schools banned kids from taking algebra in ... by WalterBright on Friday March 31, 2023 @12:17AM (#35382491)
I never memorized anything in math. After working enough problem sets, you just know it. Frankly, rote memorization of math is a worthless endeavor.
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Re:San Francisco schools banned kids from taking algebra in ... by allturtles on Friday March 31, 2023 @01:53PM (#35390632)
Isn't that what memorizing is? Repeating something until you just know it? I don't understand the distinction you're making.
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Re:San Francisco schools banned kids from taking algebra in ... by WalterBright on Friday March 31, 2023 @03:06PM (#35391827)
> Isn't that what memorizing is? Repeating something until you just know it?

Memorizing is a directed effort to remember something. Remembering something as a side effect of some other task is not memorization.

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