Liberal arts professor says schools should stop teaching algebra because America's children are too stupid to handle it (but will still be allowed to vote one day!)

Wednesday, April 06, 2016 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: liberal arts professor, algebra education, American students

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(NaturalNews) The signs that America's primary education system is collapsing are everywhere for anyone who cares to look, and one of the most recent examples ought to appall you.

As noted by The Associated Press (AP), Andrew Hacker, emeritus political science professor at taxpayer-funded Queens College in New York City, in a new book actually argues that requiring students to pass basic Algebra before they can graduate is some cruel exercise that causes millions of kids to drop out of school.

Yes, the irony is rich: An academic who had to pass rigorous coursework in order to rise to the level of professor emeritus is arguing that some aspects of public school education are too difficult.

"One out of 5 young Americans does not graduate from high school. This is one of the worst records in the developed world. Why? The chief academic reason is they failed ninth-grade algebra," Hacker told the AP.

So, what does our supposed brainiac recommend instead?

"Instead of learning how to solve rudimentary equations, Hacker argues, American high schoolers should be presented with a math curriculum concentrating on statistics and number sense," The Daily Caller reported, continuing to define number sense as "an en-vogue academic buzzword for the ability to estimate and compare numbers."

Why not just cut out ALL subjects that kids find "hard"?

Backers of Hacker use similar arguments he does in his book – namely, so little of everyday life and employment seems to overtly utilize algebraic formulae and equations, and since so many students have difficulty with it, why bother at all?

Americans of a certain age will remember well struggling through certain high school courses, and for me, anyway, one of them was Algebra. Not really interested in math much, I found the subject difficult and had trouble figuring out the formulae. But I was required to take the course nonetheless, because in those days there were higher standards in public education, to include civics (so that we would graduate with an appreciable knowledge of how our constitutional republic is supposed to function).

In the end, Algebra was painful for me, but knowing some of it made me a smarter, more well-rounded student and adult.

Now, however, because the modern public school system has for far too long been dominated by Left-wing extremists who use it for indoctrination and propaganda, one liberal arts professor is recommending that Algebra be dropped from primary education altogether because it's just too hard.

So in other words – just as American students begin to improve in math a bit – this idiot wants to cut out higher mathematics instruction.

Which is precisely how you raise generations of American adults who cannot compete in what is fast becoming a global labor market (thanks to the globalization of the U.S. economy, compliments of a generation of Democrats and Republicans).

Education prepares us for productive citizenship; it should not set our kids up to fail

In all honestly, can't some of the popular complaints about Algebra – that it's "too hard" and "useless for everyday life" – be used to essentially drop every single subject in junior high and high school? Don't other students excel at Algebra but, say, not so much in English?

And if we're cutting out curricula that aren't useful in everyday life, why bother teaching kids anything about science? What if they're not going to be researchers or medical personnel?

And who needs geography anymore in the age of GPS and smartphones?

Does any student need to learn creative writing if they're going to build homes for a living? And what good is teaching "hard" history courses because, you know, that's all stuff that happened in the past?

The point of providing our people with a basic primary education is to ensure that we all have a core of functional knowledge that makes us better, more productive citizens. The surest way to poverty is to deny children a proper education, as all the research indicates.

Along the way, kids learn critical thinking skills combined with reasoning, logic and other traits that are necessary and useful in everyday life no matter what they wind up doing for a living. Hacker's way of thinking helps explain why education "experts" continue to dumb down our educational standards and set our kids up to fail, instead of helping them to rise to an occasion necessary for succeeding in an increasingly competitive world.

Sources:

DailyCaller.com

BigStory.AP.org

NYBooks.com

Science.NaturalNews.com