California abandons algebra requirement for eighth-graders

[TM99]

61. I am sorry

but I must call bullshit on your statement that some very famous scientists weren't very good at math.

If you believe you are referring to Einstein and his supposed failures, that is a myth. The reality was that he passed math and science and failed all the other subjects while attempting to pass the university entrance exams. Einstein had an exceptional grasp on mathematics even if he occasionally asked others to look over his work. After all, many of Einstein's discoveries were done with others who assisted him in numerous ways.

Perhaps you think it was Bell or Edison? No, they had dyslexia. Once they were old enough to deal with it, they both excelled in math and went on to do their respective scientific breakthroughs and inventions.

Perhaps you think because Darwin laments a youthful disdain for mathematics that he was not very good at it? Sorry, his experiments with wildflowers laid the foundation for modern statistics and made him an early leader in the subfield of experimental design. Darwin later wrote "I have deeply regretted that I did not proceed far enough at least to understand something of the great leading principles of mathematics, for men thus endowed seem to have an extra sense." He recognized as a scientist how absolutely important mathematics is for the study and advancement of science.

All subjects from math to science to language to the arts are vitally important for a well educated populace. Yet Americans seem to revel in their disdain for math in particular. Even the most advanced calculus is challenging and yet easy if a firm and consistent mathematical foundation has been laid. Like any subject one starts from the beginning with small steps that build upon one another until advance topics are approached with confidence and ease.

I may agree with you that the current propensity for teaching for test taking is indeed not about the true acquisition of knowledge. I always encourage creativity and curiosity. However, I firmly disagree as an educator, a psychologist, and an observer of life that children most assuredly do require boundaries. Good healthy boundaries coupled with appropriate discipline and commitment should not be an anathema somehow robbing children of joy, richness, or wonder. Once we begin the transition from childhood into adulthood then we begin to break free from those that may seem restrictive so that we may then create those that work best for us as individuating adults.