No kidding, you need algebra for everything. In grade one everyone knows one apple and two apples is three apples, then they get to grade 8 and can’t figure out what one x and two x is. There’s something insane about the way we teach math.
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That says more about your prejudices and willingness to move the goalposts than anything else.
I’m 39 and very gainfully employed now, but it took me a long time to get here. When I was in my 20s, I really don’t think anyone in my parents’ generation understood the reality of the job market. I couldn’t get a job because 1) My parents don’t know anybody and 2) I didn’t do any internships in college. You know why I didn’t do any internships? Because I was working to feed myself and pay for college. When we create a a system that essentially requires internships (which are often unpaid or very low paying and may require that you move to a large expensive city) or connections, we’re essentially ensuring socioeconomic disparity.
This is especially true when you consider that you basically have to go to college to enter the middle class. It becomes indentured servitude. You have to go to college to enter the middle class, but you have to go into debt (or be really lucky/smart) to go to college. So you basically start out adulthood in the hole.
I make really good money these days, but my quality of life hasn’t really improved because I got lots of education to do it and I’m now paying for that education. Everything should be good by the time I’m 50, but by then I’ll be paying for kids’ college so they don’t have to go through the same thing. I’m not sure how recent college graduates are making their way in the world right now.
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They actually start incorporating basic Algebra concepts in first and second grades now - at least, the idea of substituting x for a number. I thought it was so strange when my daughter was young but I’m glad they introduced it to her then. It’s really not that hard to grasp.
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I’m glad. I’ve been saying you should start teaching algebra in grade 1 since I was in grade 9.
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Yep. That’s basically the gutting of the middle-class in a nutshell.
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I laughed. I laughed even though my degree is basically useless (BA/BTch). It certainly got me a teaching job, for one year. By the end I realised teaching really wasn’t for me. So when the infant is old enough for day care I’ll do a course and train as a baker, we’ll see how that goes.
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Took me a second to figure that acronym out. I settled on “Bad-ass Bitch”, then of course looked it up, and of course, a teaching degree, which confirms my suspicions, since teachers are freaking awesome.
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Heh, I’ll take bad-ass bitch.
I’m not a teacher any more. I was rather shite at it. Actually, I was pretty good at the teaching bit, but not the classroom management part. I can teach one kid fine. Five kids, probably still pretty good at that. Maybe even up to 10 kids, but that would be stretch. 30-40 kids in the one room though, cannot do. At least, I can do tutoring again.
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