Quote:
Originally Posted by GGG
Math has not gotten more complicated in the last 300 years. At least until you are in your 3rd year of a math degree at Universitiy. High School math is roughly 2000 years since the last major advancement.
In my opinion allowing calulators into a Math class is one of the worst things you can do. You don't need a graphing calculator to graph Hyperbolic and Parabolic equations. You don't need a calculator to do Trig (provided carefully chosen questions are used).
When I was in university (10 years ago) the prof gave out a grade 10 math test from the 60's. 70% of the students failed it.
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I aced English and went on to get a degree in the subject. And guess what, I'm a terrible speller - a fact that not a single colleague knew when I was a professional writer in corporate communications and investor relations for five years because I could rely on dictionaries and spell checkers.
There is nothing wrong with using tools and technology that are readily available in the real world while getting your education. If you don't need a calculator, congratulations to you for being good at math, but that's not everybody's strength.
In high school math, calculators help people do well by removing an obstacle (the grunt work) so the bigger picture and larger concepts can be understood. Just because you're good at that type of math doesn't mean you should want to take it away from others who aren't.
And I love when people bring up how adults fail high school exams. BFD. I bet we'd all fail a high school social studies exam, too. Or even a junior high one for that matter. Half the people on here probably wouldn't be able to run around the gym for 15 minutes like we had to in grade 9. Etc.