Reply to algebra 1 - which year?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why the need to take Calculus in high school? I didn't take it until college, and I was a Mathematics major.[/quote]
The US is the only industrialized country that teaches (single variable) calculus in college. Everywhere else it's considered a prerequisite for attending a university.

Soon we'll teach precalculus in college - not a trend we should be proud of.

Calculus (based on the level of intellectual capacity displayed if you pass it by the age of 18) is a good gatekeeper to decide who should pursue more education after HS.[/quote]

Something most people will never use should be the gatekeeper for post-secondary education. Got it. Signed, math major.[/quote]
Note that I used the indefinite article "a" whereas you misquoted me by using the definite article "the."

Having a level of math proficiency that roughly equates with calculus is not the only gate keeper. In most countries, students have to show equivalent levels of proficiency in the respective native language and well as one or more sciences, typically a foreign language, as well as history. (In some countries, they can pick 3 or 4 out of the 5, but they can never drop math or their native language.) You have to pass your exams in all of these before you're considered qualified to attend a university. They are gatekeepers in their entirety (This is, btw, not *that* different from us - it's just that it's called AP or DE.  But unlike a science or foreign language, math is a core subject.)[/quote]

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