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A TYPICAL American school day finds some six million high school students and two million college freshmen struggling with algebra. In both high school and college, all too many students are expected to fail. Why do we subject American students to this ordeal? I’ve found myself moving toward the strong view that we shouldn’t.
This debate matters. Making mathematics mandatory prevents us from discovering and developing young talent. In the interest of maintaining rigor, we’re actually depleting our pool of brainpower. I say this as a writer and social scientist whose work relies heavily on the use of numbers. My aim is not to spare students from a difficult subject, but to call attention to the real problems we are causing by misdirecting precious resources.
Last August, the same author wrote a piece for the LA Times in support of liberal arts, stating:
In our own teaching, we've found that students arrive at college interested in the economy, their society and its culture. They are not incurious, as many academics complain. Nor do we agree with Charles Murray, who argues we are sending too many young people to college. On the contrary, we believe that every undergraduate, even those now basically majoring in beer, would benefit from giving a seminar paper on Jane Austen's "Persuasion."
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