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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Half of US high schools don’t offer calculus. I imagine there may be very bright students at Harvard and elsewhere who have had weak learning environments. [/quote]

From the article:

The Harvard Math Department will pilot a[b] new introductory course aimed at rectifying a lack of foundational algebra skills[/b] among students, according to Harvard’s Director of Introductory Math Brendan A. Kelly.[/quote]

What does this say about Harvard admission? If they are [b]admitting the best and brightest[/b], why are they facing this issue?[/quote]

You seem to be conflating preparedness with intelligence.   Lots and lots of highly intelligent people have not had sufficient training and preparation to hone and apply their ability into skill.  If Harvard, or any other university, sees it as part of its mission to educate that segment of the population, they’ll get no argument from me.  You may resent that the algorithm you assumed applied to elite college admissions doesn’t in fact, but it has never been the practice of these universities to only take the most prepared and accomplished people.  [/quote]

Generally I agree with you.  But it is really hard to come back from 12 years of neglected math.  I am not saying that bridge programs and others are not doing great work, but pulling up kids with very bad math foundations to being able to get a math based stem degree is hard.  Fine if Harvard believes some basic competency in math is necessary to graduate from Harvard but I think they are setting these kids up for heartbreak (as a cohort) if they are trying to go into math, physics, chem, engineering, etc. [/quote]

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