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I would have to agree with the success aspect. Those who are able to learn and score well in higher math can get a pretty good grip on real life situation, and their complexities.
Analytic geometry anyone?
Obviously those of us answering 2 won't be very successful in the long run...
Algebra II link to success sparks movement
by Peter Whoriskey - Apr. 4, 2011 09:16 AM
Washington Post
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...#ixzz1J3BVWzYY
CONWAY, Ark. - With its intricate mysteries of quadratics, logarithms and imaginary numbers, Algebra II often provokes a lament from high-schoolers.
What exactly does this have to do with real life?
The answer: maybe more than anyone could have guessed.
Of all of the classes offered in high school, Algebra II is the leading predictor of college and work success, according to research that has launched a growing national movement to require it of graduates.
In recent years, 20 states have moved to raise graduation requirements to include Algebra II, and its complexities are being demanded of more and more students.
The effort has been led by Achieve, a group organized by governors and business leaders and funded by corporations and their foundations, to improve the skills of the workforce. Although U.S. economic strength has been attributed in part to high levels of education, the workforce is lagging in the percentage of younger workers with college degrees, according to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.
But exactly how to raise the education levels of the U.S. workforce is a matter of debate. And whether learning Algebra II causes students to fare better in life, or whether it is merely correlated with them doing better - because smart, motivated kids take Algebra II - isn't clear. Meanwhile, some worry that Algebra II requirements are leading some young people to quit school.
No state has pushed Algebra II more than Arkansas, which began requiring the class last year for most graduates and assesses how well students have done with a rigorous test - one of only two states to administer the test. Only 13 percent of those who took the Algebra II test in Arkansas were deemed "prepared" or better, but state officials said they are aiming to raise that figure rather than lower standards.
"All those numbers and letters, it's like another language, like hieroglyphics," said Tiffany Woodle, a Conway High School student and an aspiring beauty salon owner. "It obviously says something. I'm just not sure what, sometimes."
Achieve and other educational groups, which spent years defining standards to better prepare students for college and work, quickly fastened on Algebra II as a fundamental component.
One of the key studies supporting the Algebra II focus was conducted by Anthony Carnevale and Alice Desrochers, then both at the Educational Testing Service. They used a data set that followed a group of students from 1988 to 2000, from eighth grade to a time when most were working.
The study showed that of those who held top-tier jobs, 84 percent had taken Algebra II or a higher class as their last high school math course. Only 50 percent of employees in the bottom tier had taken Algebra II.
"Algebra II does increase the likelihood of being employed in a good job," they reported, although warning that many factors come into play.
To check the Algebra II findings against the "real world," the Achieve researchers then asked college professors and employers to identify which skills are necessary to succeed.
Somewhat to their surprise, they found that whether students were going into work or college, they needed the skills taught in Algebra II. Other independent studies backed them up. One conducted by U.S. Department of Education researcher Clifford Adelman found that students who took Algebra II and at least one more math course attained "momentum" toward receiving a bachelor's degree.
"There was a fair amount of judgment that went into this," said Michael Cohen, president of Achieve and a former assistant secretary of education in the Clinton administration. But "it turns out to get the skills needed, students had to reach Algebra II."
The push for Algebra II had begun, and it was embraced by many states.
But not everyone is convinced that Algebra II is the answer.
Among the skeptics is Carnevale, one of the researchers who reported the link between Algebra II and good jobs. He warns against thinking of Algebra II as a cause of students getting good jobs merely because it is correlated with success.
"The causal relationship is very, very weak," he said. "Most people don't use Algebra II in college, let alone in real life. The state governments need to be careful with this."
The danger, he said, is leaving some kids behind by "getting locked into a one-size-fits-all curriculum."
Conway, about 30 miles north of Little Rock, is a small town with rural roots; the annual summer festival is known as Toad Suck Daze, a local reference to a time when steamboats worked the Arkansas River. The Conway High School mascot is the mythical Wampus Cat. About 44 percent of its students have qualified for free or reduced-price lunches.
Yet its students have performed better on the test than all but a handful of other districts.
Among the 15 students gathered recently in an Algebra II class, however, the difficulties were apparent. Eight of the students said it was the hardest class they had ever taken, and several questioned why they needed it.
Garrett Baldwin, an outfielder on the baseball team who wants to be a firefighter, said, "I'd enjoy it - if I ever knew what was going on."
And Hunter Venable, who likes nothing better than duck hunting - "it's all I do" - snorted at a question about the real-life relevance of Algebra II.
"Ass-um-topes," he said, intentionally stumbling over the word "asymptotes," which they have been studying. "I have no idea what those are."
In Arkansas and elsewhere, educators worry that the class requirement could lead students to quit.
"Some students, who've gotten behind over the years, are never going to pass Algebra II," said Teresa George, a veteran teacher, after a morning coaxing students through rational functions. If it becomes an obstacle to graduation, "then you've lost them. And what's their next option?"
For proof of the usefulness of Algebra II, students need look no farther than the largest employers in Conway.
Acxiom, a database company that employs 2,100 in the town, hires software and database developers, most of whom have bachelor's degrees in technical fields. For them, Algebra II skills are a prerequisite. Similarly, at Snap-on Equipment, a plant that employs 170 making the sophisticated gears that garages use to align and balance tires, most production jobs require associate's degrees in electronics.
By contrast, at the Kimberly-Clark plant, which makes feminine hygiene and adult incontinence products, production workers need only a high school education. The jobs pay $11 to $20 an hour, and when 70 spots recently came open during an expansion, about 2,000 people applied.
"We're looking for people with the ability to think critically," said Jeremy Cannady, until recently a manufacturing efficiency coordinator at the plant. But "not the ability to do exponential functions or logarithms."
Whatever the demands for Algebra II, state officials are loath to lower the bar. The state has ranked near the bottom in the percentage of adults with bachelor's degrees, just above West Virginia. So despite the complaints, students should be made to try, they say.
"Everybody else in the world believes it takes effort when it comes to math," said Gayle Potter, associate director of academic standards in the Arkansas education department. "In America, we seem to believe that there is a math gene, and if it's not there, forget it. But math is challenging, and you have to work at it."
I would have to agree with the success aspect. Those who are able to learn and score well in higher math can get a pretty good grip on real life situation, and their complexities.
Analytic geometry anyone?
You mean to tell me smart kids in highschool tend to do well in life? Pfffff
You can get a high school diploma without a second year of algebra?!?!
Yup took Algebra II, Calculus, Stats I and Stats II in high school.
Now I am an accountant
Yeah, all my high school required was algebra I and geometry, and that was a high school with one of the best math departments in the state.
I took it (got a B and am successful, fyi) but didn't need it.
Today in Texas the rules read...Chapter 74. Curriculum Requirements
Subchapter B. Graduation Requirement
(2) Mathematics--three credits to include Algebra I.
http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/...74/ch074b.html
Chapter 74. Curriculum Requirements
Subchapter F. Graduation Requirements, Beginning with School Year 2007-2008
(2) Mathematics--three credits. Two of the credits must consist of Algebra I and Geometry. The final credit may be selected from the following courses:
(A) Algebra II;
(B) Precalculus;
(C) Mathematical Models with Applications;
(D) Independent Study in Mathematics;
(E) AP Statistics;
(F) AP Calculus AB;
(G) AP Calculus BC;
(H) AP Computer Science;
(I) International Baccalaureate (IB) Mathematical Studies Standard Level;
(J) IB Mathematics Standard Level;
(K) IB Mathematics Higher Level;
(L) IB Further Mathematics Standard Level;
(M) Mathematical Applications in Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources;
(N) Engineering Mathematics; and
(O) Statistics and Risk Management.
http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/...74/ch074f.html
Bull . They're Beta people that excel at abstract thinking, not knowing what to do in "real life." NO doubt, they can get into better colleges, score better on tests, and put together better long-term projects...but day to day situations, especially critical and time sensitive, aren't the way you measure them. Medical Doctors would be the only field that pose an exception, but that's cuz most doctors are exceptional people. Not that I am myself a doctor or anything..............
...in general, math majors are smarter out of the University than 99 off all majors, its what they do with their education after the b.s. that determines if they will be successful....many do flame out...
lmao thats because its the most difficult class that the entire school has to take, and its taken before the legal allowed age to drop out.
apparently noones taken stats and know about lurking variables either.
Wow you don't say? I figured knowledge of cursive was key.
Algebra 2 is one of the first courses where a student will struggle to bull their way through it. Most people have to actually take the time to study and practice in order to understand the logic, formulas, etc that make up the fundamentals of advanced math. How a student does in Algebra 2 is, imo, a good indicator of how that student would handle difficult college courses especially if that student is already learning how to manage their time by participating in sports and . Learning how to study and deal with relatively difficult stuff that you really don't want to know is a huge part of being a student and a daily part of a lot of high paying professions.
Last edited by Cane; 04-10-2011 at 11:28 AM.
wow, a sop re level class isn't required now?
Algebra II was required for me in high school. I too didn't even know you could graduate without it.
Schools want to pass their students, there are likely alternative classes especially when it comes to the more difficult courses like Alg 2 even if its a requirement for the average degree plan.
My high school was crap. My freshman year I had a math teacher who was gone half of the year and the students who where in my class were all trouble makers, throwing paper balls at each other and running on desks and . My sop re and junior year I had good teachers but must of what they taught was focused to pass the TAKS and not for college or to improve the students math skills. My senior year, man, all I did was play poker and chat with my friends the whole year. I don't remember doing a problem.
I don't remember taking any math at the prestigious thomas edison high school.
Manipulating polynomials I see the application of but a lot fo algebra 2 curriculums include matrices and complex numbers.
I don't see many people solving simultaneous equations or have a need for complex conjugates.
The whole premise of the study is pretty asinine.
Should have just been led 'Being Smart Linked to Success.'
seems like the purpose is to get a high GAP score or watever it is...fck that
do any of you clowns use alge2 in real life scenarios?
Yeah I know huh? I consider Texas to be pathetic at education and such but if Arizona has lower math requirements then what's all the fuss?
Yeah, well some of it. For example, as a chemist sometimes you are required to solve the coefficient components of a chemical rxn using matrices which would enable one to find moles/grams/concentration (if the volume the rxn took place was quan atively understood). This ability is usually used in analytical chemistry when one is attempting to identify the reaction upon which a product was formed. This is used even more so in physical chemistry (deals with systems that deviate from ideality). If a complex set of reactions are accounted for, they can be assembled in a matrix which would allow for what has been mentioned to be achieved.
i doubt a chemist or drug companies give a , they just want you to return and buy the next batch of medical supplies to fattened their wallets
One mistake in computing the coefficients of a rxn involved in the synthesis of a drug would open the door for lawsuits. The manner in which a drug is synthesized must be accounted for in the appropriate concentrations, dilution factors, product yield, etc. Neglecting these type of things would cause problems for patients taking these drugs. I think companies and the chemists working under a pharmaceutical company would therefore give a .
Well, there are three kinds of people...
those who can count and those who can't...
just saying...
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