Algebra Essay

Cody Langlie
Mr. Hinson
Spring Semester Algebra is a subject taught usually in Jr. High and High School, many students ask questions why they are in the class. This answer to this question is a very extensive. Many people debate whether Algebra should be taught or should you only put people in the classes that will most likely use algebra later in life. When this question is brought up people start bickering over what should the Department of Education do about the problem. If Algebra wasn’t required why would I have to take? There are many reasons why people would have to take this course. Some people think that taking Algebra is stupid. I don’t understand this notion. If it was so stupid then why would we have to take it? This can be expressed through article 1. Some people say they do not need algebra. But how would someone know that wouldn’t need it. At that young of an age one would not know what future is in store for them. If someone said that Shaniqua couldn’t take algebra because she was expected to be in jail by her eleventh grade year of high school. When they were only judging on her race would they know she had of IQ of 124? I think not, people should not be choosing what someone takes if they are only judging based upon race, ethnicity, or gender. What is the point of taking algebra if it is stupid, when someone has no clue of what the future use is of this is. The people who often say this tend to struggle with the subject in entirety. The point of taking a course in high school is to learn it so you can use it later in life. One does not simply go into high school knowing exactly what their job will be after high school or college. If people go into high school already knowing what they are going to do then they probably have not thought carefully about what they want to do. “Nobody can say with assurance what skills will be needed twenty years from now.” (A1) “But what intelligent person would want to cut himself off from future opportunities and growth by refusing to expose himself to at least some of the knowledge which will be foundation for whatever is yet to come.” (A1) With that said it just shows that people will need a little if not a lot of math skills later in life and it is better to learn them now than later. In the second article provided I found that this one puts opinions for both sides of the story. When someone goes into school they are expected to take an algebra course. They take this course because it is a mandated class by the government. “[Hackler] says about six million high school students’ struggle each day with algebra, only to find that the formulas and lessons they were taught in the classroom