Re: Don't Call It "Algebra"; Call It Something Warm And Fuzzy

On Jul 10, 1:32=A0pm, Pubkeybreaker <pubkeybrea...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On Jul 10, 12:31=A0pm, Barbara <mom_2_...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> > On Jul 10, 9:41=A0am, hru...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 (Herman Rubin)
wrote:
>
> > Of course, the answer is not to re-name the subject. =A0Rather, the
> > answer is to show the students that algebra isn't that difficult.
>
> My general suspicion is that the phenomenon isn't unique to 'algebra'.
> I suspect that the students afraid of 'algebra' are also afraid of
> 'physics', 'chemistry', 'literature'... etc. =A0 They are afraid of
> any subject that requires that they <gasp!> =A0might have to study
> in order to learn. =A0Too many are simply intellectually LAZY.

Charles Murray has said that algebra *is* hard for people with IQ's <=3D
100, and I think he is right:

http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=3D110009535
What's Wrong With Vocational School?
Too many Americans are going to college.
by CHARLES MURRAY
Wednesday, January 17, 2007 12:01 a.m. EST

The topic yesterday was education and children in the lower half of
the intelligence distribution. Today I turn to the upper half, people
with IQs of 100 or higher. Today's simple truth is that far too many
of them are going to four-year colleges.

Begin with those barely into the top half, those with average
intelligence. To have an IQ of 100 means that a tough high-school
course pushes you about as far as your academic talents will take you.
If you are average in math ability, you may struggle with algebra and
probably fail a calculus course. If you are average in verbal skills,
you often misinterpret complex text and make errors in logic.

These are not devastating shortcomings. You are smart enough to engage
in any of hundreds of occupations. You can acquire more knowledge if
it is presented in a format commensurate with your intellectual
skills. But a genuine college education in the arts and sciences
begins where your skills leave off.

In engineering and most of the natural sciences, the demarcation
between high-school material and college-level material is brutally
obvious. If you cannot handle the math, you cannot pass the courses.
In the humanities and social sciences, the demarcation is fuzzier. It
is possible for someone with an IQ of 100 to sit in the lectures of
Economics 1, read the textbook, and write answers in an examination
book. But students who cannot follow complex arguments accurately are
not really learning economics. They are taking away a mishmash of half-
understood information and outright misunderstandings that probably
leave them under the illusion that they know something they do not. (A
depressing research literature do***ents one's inability to recognize
one's own incompetence.) Traditionally and properly understood, a four-
year college education teaches advanced analytic skills and
information at a level that exceeds the intellectual capacity of most
people.