I have to disagree about being "hooked up" for algebra. I believe our mathematical abilities are related to our language abilities. Where I went to school the system waits until the age when your natural ability to learn a second language is greatly diminished and then they start throwing the language classes at you, we all struggled.
I believe we do the same thing with mathematics and that's why algebra is such a struggle for many people and they never grasp it. It's just another language. I think if we started early enough we could have them doing calculus by grade 3. When they are that young their brains have no limits to what they can learn. I'm not talking about the rote flash card memorization that is so popular today, where people think their kid is a genius because he can name all the presidents at 2. I'm talking about using, living and applying mathematics to their everyday lives. Almost every calculus example I came across in college could be applied in the playground.
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I have to disagree about being "hooked up" for algebra. I believe our mathematical abilities are related to our language abilities. Where I went to school the system waits until the age when your natural ability to learn a second language is greatly diminished and then they start throwing the language classes at you, we all struggled. I believe we do the same thing with mathematics and that's why algebra is such a struggle for many people and they never grasp it. It's just another language. I think if we started early enough we could have them doing calculus by grade 3. When they are that young their brains have no limits to what they can learn. I'm not talking about the rote flash card memorization that is so popular today, where people think their kid is a genius because he can name all the presidents at 2. I'm talking about using, living and applying mathematics to their everyday lives. Almost every calculus example I came across in college could be applied in the playground.