Is Algebra Worth The Work Essay

Is Algebra Worth the Work? Recently, I came across an editorial in the New York Times debating the reasoning behind requiring higher-level algebra in high school and college. Written by Andrew Hacker, a teacher at City University in New York since 1971, the article suggests that colleges and high schools shouldn’t actually require algebra in their everyday classes. On a personal note, I couldn’t agree more. Many of my high school math classes were sent sitting in a room and asking the teacher when we will actually use the skills we were learning in our lives. Their answer, most of the time, would be a job that involved heavy mathematics. Some of the time, however, she would simply admit that the skill wasn’t useful outside of the classroom. Factoring, for example, was, in my opinion, the single biggest waste of time of my high school career. I left high school with an otherwise worthless skill, yet I never learned how to balance a checkbook, or how to invest my money. I was totally bewildered at the folly of our education system. Similarly, Andrew Hacker also seems bewildered by a system that is teaching students skills they cannot use. In his article he writes; “Nor is it clear that the math we learn in the classroom (algebra) has any …show more content…
However, as Andrew Hacker argued, I would say that high-level algebra doesn’t actually help a student with their job, and thus should be removed from the classroom. Professor hacker perfectly embodies the three basics of persuasion, logos, ethos, and pathos, in this article that was a great read and very written from start to finish. The author has done a fantastic job of making his case, and I couldn’t agree with him more. Instead of teaching worthless skills that simply waste students’ time and make them hate school, let us instead teach them the skills to make American the best for generations to