Reply to Harvard Instituting Remedial Math Class

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Harvard Instituting Remedial Math Class "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Wow. I assume this is directed at first gen students, but still seems pretty nuts. [/quote]

No, it is all the schools rushing kids through accelerated programs in the name of being the youngest ever to talk calculus. This is s no way to learn math.[/quote]

I thought that could be contributing to it too.  My kid is learning algebra in grade 7.  By the time he starts year 1 of college he won't remember it.[/quote]

If that were a contributor, then other elite colleges would have issues: the equivalent of BC calculus is the most common freshman calculus class followed by multivariable, then AB calculus is third, at the elite schools my kids attend. Almost all freshmen have exposure to calculus from high school, as in over 80%. If starting Algebra before high school were a problem for any significant portion of students who later took AP/other calculus then remedial courses such as Harvard's would be very common. They are not. International students abound at my kid's ivy in engineering and they come in with two full years post-calculus in high school and do fine. The ones with Algebra in 6th in the USA are similar, just not terribly common compared to typcial US freshman at this school, and same as the internationals from a similar level, are almost always at the tops of the math curves once in college. Early algebra is not an issue at all for bright kids: more in the US could do it if the elementary schools differentiated younger as do the international curricula. 
Harvard's need for remedial math MAS that focuses on algebra and geometry basics is because they are admitting more kids who are not ready for traditional Math MA, PREcalculus. That type of admission is usually reserved for big 10 helmet sport recruits, not ivies let alone Harvard. They have really lowered the bar too far. [/quote]

Source?  You're making a lot of sweeping statements, for things for which I've never seen data.[/quote]

The source is the PP's opinion which he/she is trying to pass along as fact. :roll: [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics