Should calculus be taught in high school?

Count Iblis

It should be possible for universities to make downloadable lecture notes for primary school children. Many parents are interested but they are incomptent to help their children. They do want to get their children to the best universities.

So, if the universities themselves where to say: "To make sure your child doesn't drop out in the first year, we recommend that your child studies from our specially prepared lecture notes", the problem would be solved.

physicsnoob93

I think it should be offered as an elective to students who do give a damn. There are many who dont, honestly. And a lot have interest in other subjects.

zetafunction

As i scientist i must say Calculus is fundamental and almost needed as breeze to breathe or as the food to live

the problem is those people involved in 'Social Science' , or take a career about Art, History, Filology,... so they will NEVER need it , or in case they need could be taught at University

however the cultural impact of calculus is so high that any person considered 'intructed' or 'wise' should know

Andy Resnick

Walk into any bookstore (or big-box store with a 'books' section) and you will find scads of already-existing workbooks specifically with this aim. A cursory interweb search will likewise net you a nearly uncountable set of similar materials.

The problem is not availability; the problem is lack of interest.

thrill3rnit3

Personally, I don't think there is any way out of this "education gap" between the United States and the rest of the world.

qntty

I don't think the issue is whether advanced coursework should be offered, but rather whether that coursework should be calculus. If the college fail rate of calculus is high then that means that kids don't know the fundamentals well enough. Maybe, rather than introducing calculus sooner, we should make sure kids understand everything up to the point of calculus better.

Count Iblis

The reason why students are bad a math is precisely because we don't teach enough of it early enough. The age at which most children could start to learn math is somewhere around the age of 8. But we start to teach very elementary math at the age of 12, so that's four years lost, which is the same amount of time students spend at the undergraduate level at university.

Also, if we were to start teaching math at the age of 8 then more of what the children learn will be hard wired in their brains. Things like manipulating algebraic expressons etc. will be as natural as speaking English. While if you learn these things at a later age, it is like learning to speak Chinese at a very late age. It is more difficult to get fluent at it.

buffordboy23

Interesting statement...I can't agree or disagree at the moment, since it is a generalized statement. Do you have any sources that support your remark? What about links to the national mathematics curriculum for foreign countries? We can compare their standards by grade to those of the U.S.

yeongil

I am confused by this statement. Are you saying that what students are learning in Math class in grades K-2 isn't "elementary math" at all? What are they learning, then?


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thrill3rnit3

Math is not emphasized enough at those levels. For heaven's sake kids don't fully understand how to add/subtract "unlike" fractions until the 6th grade...

physicsnoob93

People start learning math when they are 6 in Primary School over here in Singapore. I thought they would do the same in the US too? And are you sure about:
?

We have an International called Kyle from North Carolina, he is probably the most advanced math student in our level, and hes an year younger than us. He learned math through calculus when he was in Elementary school. I think its the difference between private and public schools?

thrill3rnit3

Well Kyle most likely fits in the category of "outlier".

No elementary school here teaches calculus. In fact, only a small number teaches algebra in 6th grade.

Elementary, middle school, and high school education here in the U.S. is crap.

And Count Iblis is right. Most kids don't have their "basic" maths straightened out until age 12, at the least.

thrill3rnit3

Plus, most private schools are worse because of lack of funding. Of course there are exceptions like the Philips Exeter Academy.

Most of the good high schools are public high schools.

mXSCNT

My personal opinion on math education in the US is that our problems stem from the anti-intellectual culture that many youth get drawn into. The culture glorifies soldiers, musicians, actors, athletes, anything but scientists, who are derided as stuffy and useless. There isn't much emphasis on a work ethic, either. It's all about quick gratification. The result is, most students don't value math much, and if they do value it they are less inclined to work at it. The best students, who both value achievement and are willing to work, are ostracized as geeks. With that kind of peer pressure who would want to be smart?

j93

This still doesnt account for the fact that in the US kids spend 7 years learning how to add and subtract due to the curriculum.

thrill3rnit3

I believe that if reform is to be done to the curriculum it should start with the bottom (preschool - elementary education), working its way to the top (high school curriculum).

Astronuc

I learned that in 4th grade in the US. But I've found US schools uneven. Some are great and many are poor. I probably had the best teachers in the schools I attended, but that's because I got shuffled into Major Works (MW) or Honors courses.