I went looking for a drink-holder at Dollar Tree the other day and eventually went with this one:
So true. When I had to take algebra in high school it didn't dawn on me at first that I would not be using it later in life. But after a while, I did began to feel that way, and I later felt the same with geometry theorems.
When seeing this I was reminded me of this meme I'd seen earlier this year as tax season had approached:
I now wonder why we were never taught how balance a checkbook or do taxes in school. I did have to take economics in high school, and the only lesson they gave us on checks was in a film we watched for the class. Not sure if they talked about doing taxes, though. If not, they should have.
Have you found yourself using algebra since high school and/or college? I'm guessing not.
My math teacher keeps trying to get us to use graphs and someone said "when will we use this?" and my teacher said "Well if you want to be an architect..." and this other kid just yelled out "WELL I WANT TO BE A DANCER"
ReplyDeleteI don't get quite a lot of things at school. For example, remembering the Periodic Table of Elements. Or remembering most things like that. One of Einsteins quotes was "Never memorize something that you can look up" and I think schools need to listen to that.
There was an expert who was recently issuing a call to end algebra in school. His argument was that it's too hard and leads to higher dropout rates. I think algebra should be reserved for those whose future career path merits math (people who intend to become physicists, maybe even computer programmers?). The rest of the country should learn basic accounting things like you mentioned...calculating taxes, etc. We did take economics where we learned how to run a business, but daily life stuff should be part of some kind of basic class everyone takes.
ReplyDeleteScience teacher here.
ReplyDeleteNo you do not use algebra. However learning algebra develops the brain's reasoning ability. You use it when you analyze problems and situations. You are smarter because you took the subject. So you do use it.