Related: PROOF POINTS: How a debate over the science of math could reignite the math wars How many finance majors will become derivatives traders? How many biologists will pursue a career in modeling cell motion? Why do pre-med students have to take 2-3 semesters of calculus but zero semesters of statistics, the discipline that most informs best health practices? It is one thing to say that someone shouldn’t major in aerospace engineering or computer science if they can’t handle calculus, but do we really need to dissuade them from pursuing a degree in finance or biology? The calculus requirement also deters underrepresented students, many of whom have never received sufficiently rigorous math teaching, from pursuing STEM degrees. This means that students who struggle with math are effectively barred from pursuing the degrees that lead to the highest starting salaries. Of the 15 highest-paying undergraduate degrees, all but one require at least one semester of calculus at most colleges. We can’t ignore how calculus serves as a formidable gatekeeper. For example, even if a student never reads Shakespeare or writes another essay after graduating, literacy and writing fluency are still necessary in almost every single field.Īn equally important dimension to consider is calculus’s effect on access to degrees and equity. The difference is that most courses in high school cultivate skills with broader applications. We could ask those questions of every class a student takes in high school. But will a million students a year need these skills? What is the opportunity cost of attempting to develop these skills? And for students who don’t pursue those careers there is value in terms of accurately characterizing and solving problems that deal with variable rates of change. Rocket scientists, physicists and civil engineers use calculus daily. This isn’t to say that calculus has zero value. This is a terrible return on investment! What could those non-math-majors learn with all those collective years? I listened as the professor described missile trajectories and satellite positioning, and I asked myself: “I’m a bio major, when am I going to launch a missile!?” That means that every year we are spending 1.5 times more time teaching calculus than it took for modern civilization to arise.
#ALL STUDENTS TAKE CALCULUS RULE NEGATIVE DEGREES PROFESSIONAL#
This equals more than 18,000 calendar years - all on a subject fewer than 5 percent of students will ever use in a professional setting, and likely never again.įor context, farming was developed about 12,000 years ago. Double that to include college students, and we are talking about 160 million collective hours of student life. If 400,000 students - a conservative number - are taking calculus in high school, we are now talking about 80 million hours. If you assume that one semester of classes takes about 100 hours to complete, a student will spend a minimum of 200 hours of time in calculus class for a given year. I’ve done some simple back-of-the-envelope calculations regarding the amount of time spent learning calculus to determine whether it is time well spent.
Most students who take calculus in high school are doing so to “look good for college.” Approximately 80 percent of these students retake the course in college. In fact, only about 1.3 percent, or 31,000, of the over 2 million annual college graduates major in math. Valorizing calculus as a proxy for intelligence and potential for succeeding in the STEM fields is nearly universal, has negative consequences for education and has kept many students from exploring STEM majors in college.ĭespite all this time and effort to teach kids calculus, very few students even consider majoring in math. This is the class that I should have taken in high school. Now they tell me that, as one student beautifully expressed it, “Math isn’t meant to be a trap, it’s like a puzzle that allows us to discover an interesting hidden picture.” All joked that they were the “dumb kids” because they didn’t understand algebra or trigonometry. I believe that deprioritizing abstract math like calculus in favor of practical math, with a focus on statistical literacy, reduces barriers to entry and will help increase diversity in the STEM fields.īefore taking math applications, many of my students, like many Americans, had significant levels of math anxiety.
Many discover that math isn’t only an esoteric language, it is a way to make sense of the world and share that understanding with others. In my class, students analyze real-world data and share what they’ve learned visually. Instead, I developed a “math applications” class specifically for high school students who are not “calculus bound.” I no longer struggle to understand the fundamental concepts of calculus, but I’ve chosen not to teach the course.
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