Political Science Prof Asks: Is Algebra Necessary?

Capt.Albatross writes "Andrew Hacker, a professor of Political Science at the City University of New York and author of Higher Education? How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing Our Kids — and What We Can Do About It, attempts to answer this question in the negative in today's New York Times Sunday Review. His primary claim is that mathematics requirements are prematurely and unreasonably limiting the level of education available to otherwise capable students ."

Comments

Re:yes

[JDG1980]

Screw that, it doesn't matter what algebra is good for. My 5th grade math teacher said this, math helps change the way you think. It doesn't seem like much, but you'll need that way of thinking in the future. And she was right.

They used to make this same argument about Greek and Latin: sure, you may not actually use these skills, but they teach critical thinking and build character. It was nonsense then and it's nonsense now.