Should math classes that are not related to your major be required in college? Why or why not? In genral, do you think that students should be more free to choose their own curriculum rather than be forced to pay for and take classes that have little to do with their major? Math is one example. Another example is foreign language. Do you think it's a good idea to require students to become "proficient" in a foreign language in order to earn an LAS degree?
Thanks Laynie Shields 12:00
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101 Student said...
I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I would like people in general to have a broader education. I wish our culture placed more value on learning for the sake of learning rather than on learning particular skills that will make people more hireable. I wish children were taught the pleasures of learning early on in a way that made a love for learning stick with them.
So, ideally, I wish everyone could learn a variety of subjects, including math and foreign languages, and learn them in a way that the acquired knowledge feels good and worthwhile to them.
But that's not the way our system is set up. Given that many people are encouraged to specialize in a particular subject ("learn a trade"), I don't think it's fair or just to also make them jump through hoops that have nothing at all to do with that subject. Car mechanics, for instance, should not need to learn French or German. Music majors, journalists, and poets should not be force-fed math.
I think our current educational system (like many systems in our country) come down to money. Academic institutions can make more money by forcing a broad-based curriculum on students. That there's no persuasive evidence that supports the idea that our current system is the best one makes me wish we'd do more experimenting, especially in junior colleges. In most cases, when students resist a subject, they are not going to learn it well, anyway. Why keep putting up a front for the sake of appearing that we care about a broad and liberal education when as a society we really don't?
John Wentworth
i stongly agree that math should be required no matter what. It seems that once you are out of high school we lose track of knowing how to count. even if you dont think that math relates to your major, your wrong. math is a very important part of the society. We use math in our everyday life and dont realize it. I think that if we were forced to take at least algebra to geometry level math regularly if would help us out alot in society as a whole. what im trying to say is that whether or not you are goin to be a scientist or a pizza boy the rest of your life, you will need to know some degree of math so this is why i think that it shoud be required.
brandon sherfey
For a while when i was in junior high i liked math all the way up until algebra. Then after that i started to hate it and i wondered why should we even take math. Why cant it be another one of those classes where we get to pick to do it because we want to have a job that deals with numbers. Now that im in college i still feel the same way. Im here for music and teaching/translating for the deaf, what do i need math for. I really dont think that i should have to pay for a class that really has nothing to do with my major or my minor. I mean its always good to know the basics like adding, subtracting,multiplyin, and division. After that i really dont see the need for geometry and all that othe stuff unless it was something that interest me. I look at it like this, my thing is music and your not required to take classes that have to do with working in the studio and things like that, but your thing is be math teacher at a high school and im required to take classes for that. Basically to wrap it up no we should not be forced to take math in my opinion.
Destini Reed
The only math we should be required to take is the math we took when we were younger. A lot of things in the world now a days dont even require math. Schools just have it to keep students busy and waste there money.
I think that math should be forced because it makes soicity a better functioning machine. Math enables people to do many jobs. If math is not forced poeple would not take it and be mathmaticly alitterate. then schools testing would be low and they would lose funding. Math makes us able to funtion in sociaty.
Jeremy Miller
Math can be good and it can be bad. For example, I used to like math up until the point of taking geometry in high school. Now I hate math. Math should not be more letters than numbers if you ask me. Back in high school I was forced to take calculus which I could not understand for the life of me. How does x+y*3q/13z=4 with limits of -3 and 1? What does this mean? It turns out that because of what I am studying in college I dont need anything higher than algebra. I dont think that we should be forced to take math unless it is vital to what you want to do with your life.
Josh Kaufman
I truly believe that if the subject has no relaton to your choice of future occupation then you should not have to take it. I think that students should be able to choose the other subjects that they take that do not necessarily pertain to their major. I think that when students are forced to take elective classes that are not a part of their major then the college is treating it's students more like high school dtudents instead of college students. I understand that they want students to be well rounded but I also think that is should be a choice and should not be forced upon a student.
Michaela Kern (12:00)
I think that you need math, but not as you get into college if your not going to be a math techer. The math that is forced on us to learn is way to hard. The stuff that is taught is never once going to be used in your everyday life. I feel that students should only have to take classes that inclued their major. When you are forced to take a class you do not get that much out of it either. If you got to take class that you liked all the time I feel that students would do much better.
Love+Charlie Ramshaw
Math is whats gonna make me fail out of college one of these days, and I'm a damn theatre major. I think that the math that you learn in high school should be enough depending on what your major is. Unless your becoming a math teacher, scientist, or some kind of engineer, you should be able to be math free. Math could be a lot better subject in college if the stuff they make us learn wasnt so hard. Why does a theatre major or a music major need to know how to graph linear equations on a graph. It's useless information and only keeps kids in college for an extra year, or causes them to just quit and drop out.
Zach Lutz
I do think that math is important to college students. I think that every student looking to graduate should have to complete a Basic Algebra. I do not that that it is necessary for anyone who isn’t going for a specific math related major to complete any math classes above that, and I don’t that that any student should have to complete any forign language classes.
This is a tought subject to talk about. i think that people should not have to take math when they are done with high school unless they really want to. I know for some jobs they require math. But some jobs you will never have to remember all the weird equations that you had to remember in high school. Some people math is their strong point and some people really hate it. So i think people should not have to be forced to do something that they really dont want to do.
Phillip Poppe
I feel math is a waste of time unless you are going into engineering or something like that. I'm a psych major and the only math i need is statistics, but because my math score was so low i had to take math 094 on up to statistics. I have never been good at math and i feel in the real world very little of what they teach you is actually applied. When in real life (unless you are a math teacher) are you going to have to factor a problem like (x+36)(2x+6)? You will never use that. I have to pay to take math classes i don't even need for my degree and since they are not college level they don't even count for credits. I believe math should not be required unless it is crucial to your degree.
Kahla Ryder
I think that it is perfectly reasonable and actually very intelligent to make students take these "extra" classes. Just as in high school these classes add an increased level of understanding of all of human knowledge. Learning these subjects builds a foundation of knowledge and also teaches us HOW to learn which is the most important of all. Almost every single county in the world teaches their students at least one different language, and i think that it is very important that we learn as much if not more than the rest of the world.
Douglas King
I think that math should be more required in High School rather than college. I know a lot of people that got through high school on just basic math. I myself got through advanced trig and when i took my placement test for college I wasnt required to take any more math classe. If students were presured to go further in math in high school then there is no reason they should be stuck paying lots of money for a math class in college. So I can see why math classes are there but I think that if students did better at math in high school, they wouldnt have to take math in college. It also depends on your major. If your major has nothing to do with math then really all you should need to know is how to do simple math so you can do everyday things that adults have to do: paying bills, stuff like that.
Jimmy Gourdier (12:00 class)
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