So this weekend, I have been reading and thinking about math and Algebra in our District (and all districts for that matter). Algebra Algebra is a CRITICAL competency (not “course”) for ALL of our students. Clearly it provides access to high school success graduation as well as access to post-secondary opportunities (including trades). Without it, a student and therefore our citizens are severely limited in tough economic times, as well as generally. There are articles for parents parent articlesregarding the importance of Algebra in California today (including a Spanish version).
In Radical Equations, Robert Moses argues for a number of things, but most compelling is the essential nature of Algebra in our global, “knowledge-based” society. Algebra (along with science and beyond Algebra mathematics) is as essential in our “knowledge-based” economy as literacy was in the manufacturing era. For students to have access to our economy, they must be competent in Algebra, as well as its math and science successors. The other interesting observation is that failure of public education to step up to this challenge clearly sets up and sustains a class system where there are “haves” and “have-nots.”
So do we begin to emphasize Algebra and its kin in the next 10 years, like we have emphasized literacy in the past 10 years?
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