{"id":6041,"date":"2006-01-31T08:23:34","date_gmt":"2006-01-31T13:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cobranchi.com\/?p=6041"},"modified":"2006-01-31T08:23:34","modified_gmt":"2006-01-31T13:23:34","slug":"who-needs-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cobranchi.com\/?p=6041","title":{"rendered":"WHO NEEDS<\/i> IT?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joanne Jacobs<\/a> has a take on high schools requiring algebra for graduation. It seems that a lot <\/em> of kids flunk Algebra I several times and then drop out. Joanne blames a lack of basic skills, but doesn’t question the need. Why do all kids need Algebra? Yes, it’s a college requirement. But that could always be “fixed” later at a community college. Other than getting into college, what good does it do? Does one need algebra to balance a checkbook? Or to fill out one’s taxes? Or, to put it in terms of citizenship, to understand the federal budget? (I’d argue one should conceentrate on imaginary numbers (Calculus) for that last one). <\/p>\n

Joking aside, algebra is useful only in opening doors to higher math and higher education. For kids who aspire to neither, why should they be labeled dropouts just because they can’t solve two simultaneous equations in two unknowns?<\/p>\n

I want my kids to learn Algebra. But if they don’t care to (or can’t seem to), I’d be happy to help steer them to a career where it isn’t required. One size education does not fit all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joanne Jacobs has a take on high schools requiring algebra for graduation. It seems that a lot of kids flunk Algebra I several times and then drop out. Joanne blames a lack of basic skills, but doesn’t question the need. Why do all kids need Algebra? Yes, it’s a college requirement. But that could always […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cobranchi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6041"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cobranchi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cobranchi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cobranchi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cobranchi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cobranchi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6041\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cobranchi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cobranchi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cobranchi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}