(2012-07-29) Is Algebra Necessary

Andrew Hacker asks whether we should teach Algebra.

This debate matters. Making mathematics mandatory prevents us from discovering and developing young talent. In the interest of maintaining rigor, we’re actually depleting our pool of brainpower... The toll mathematics takes begins early. To our nation’s shame, one in four ninth graders fail to finish High School. (Drop Out)

Nor is it clear that the math we learn in the classroom has any relation to the quantitative reasoning we need on the job... Even in jobs that rely on so-called STEM credentials — science, technology, engineering, math — considerable Job Training occurs after hiring, including the kinds of computations that will be required... I fully concur that high-tech knowledge is needed to sustain an advanced industrial economy. But we’re deluding ourselves if we believe the solution is largely academic... But an analysis by the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce forecasts that in the decade ahead a mere 5 percent of entry-level workers will need to be proficient in algebra or above. And if there is a shortage of STEM graduates, an equally crucial issue is how many available positions there are for men and women with these skills. A January 2012 analysis from the Georgetown center found 7.5 percent unemployment for engineering graduates and 8.2 percent among computer scientists.

Quantitative literacy clearly is useful in weighing all manner of public policies, from the Affordable Care Act, to the costs and benefits of environmental regulation, to the impact of climate change. Being able to detect and identify ideology at work behind the numbers is of obvious use. Ours is fast becoming a statistical age, which raises the bar for informed citizenship. What is needed is not textbook formulas but greater understanding of where various numbers come from, and what they actually convey.

I propose that we start thinking about alternatives. Thus mathematics teachers at every level could create exciting courses in what I call “citizen Statistics.”

Rob Knop challenges that position. the core of his argument is the ultimate in Anti-Intellectualism. What's worse, it's the kind of anti-intellectualism that you get from intellectuals, the sort of thing that sprouts from those on the math-ignorant side of the "Two Cultures" identified by C. P. Snow.

So, because algebra isn't what's needed in jobs, we shouldn't be teaching it. This is absolutely the wrong way to think about a lot of education. If you accept that argument, we need to reevaluate the entire High School curriculum, and the entire core curriculum of all colleges and universities (College Education). I think most people would agree that you need to be able to read and write (Reading And Writing) in order to function in today's society. Do you really need to be able to interpret themes in literature, however? Honestly, is anything that you do in high school or college English classes really necessary in the workplace, any more than algebra is? The kind of reading and writing that most people need is something that students should already know by the time they're out of middle school. Likewise, history, biology, all the rest: everything that they study in high school is not going to be necessary for their jobs.

A Liberal Arts education is all about expanding your mind, all about being able to think. It's not about gaining skills that you are then going to use in a job... Liberal arts education is to make people into good citizens, not into good workers. They are to acquaint you with the intellectual achievements of humankind.

Yes, I would agree that we could and perhaps de-emphasize algebra in favor of making time for statistical awareness, and perhaps in filling in the basic number sense that students failed to get out of elementary school... But, right now, the problems are bigger than that. That so many people through high school without basic quantitative reasoning skills is not a reason to throw out algebra. We do, however, have to figure out why it is somewhere around fifth grade that individuals and society both get the "Math Is Hard" meme so firmly embedded. (Numeracy)

What do I think?

• If you could really test well the underlying mental abilities supposedly developed by Liberal Arts, most students would fail those classes, too.
• Most people shouldn't need to go to college. College is currently an incredibly expensive/inefficient way of providing knowledge/inspiration.
• Students should develop Numeracy in High School. Other Intermediate Mathematics should be brought in only to support that. Other mathematics should be available for interested students (and future STEM Symbolic Analyst-s), but not required. And yes, computers should be used heavily to help.