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To: LindyBill who wrote (468629)	1/30/2012 6:43:28 PM
From: simplicity	4 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793897

You are so right. My undergrad degree is in math, and I worked as a mathematician for Westinghouse for many years. Now I occasionally tutor math with junior high through college students. It's a very sad process. When I sit down, one on one, with a student, 9 times out of 10 they are perfectly capable of learning math, but since grade school have been turned off by the subject simply because it wasn't taught well in their early years. I was very fortunate in that my seventh grade Algebra I teacher was mesmerizing, and it was after taking his class that I decided to major in math in college. Had I not had him for a teacher, I doubt that that would have been my pathway. For whatever reason, there are not many good math teachers, and all a student needs is one bad teacher in the early grades, and that's the end of the math learning cycle for him/her. Math is one of the few subjects that builds upon itself, so, if you're lost in Algebra I, you're going to be lost in all of the math courses that follow (Algebra II, Trig, Geometry, Calculus, and beyond). I am convinced that so many people 'hate math' simply because they had an early teacher who didn't teach them a simple concept (say, fractions) well, and the frustration built from there. Unfortunately, bad math teachers in the early grades are all too common. Add to that the fact that children are required to take too many math courses and you have an unavoidable disaster. I believe that a young person who is interested in a career that has nothing to do with math should not be required to take anything beyond Algebra I. And yet colleges are filled with young people, majoring in subjects like history or journalism, who are struggling with Calculus -- involving concepts they will never again use after they leave the college classroom.

To: LindyBill who wrote (468629)	1/30/2012 7:40:59 PM
From: longnshort	Respond to of 793897

Like simplicity said you have to taken them in order, my son said he took 4 calc, 2 probabilities, and other courses which are considered engineering courses but basically are all math where you need calc. like his two signal and systems courses. so you need time to taken them in succession. But I agree the lib induced electives need to go. Although in engineering your courses are a pretty much laid out and their aren't many choices or BS electives some kids have finish calc 3 by HS and one of my sons friends even finished calc 4 by HS but he had to go to a local college for that class. so I guess it could be done