As a means to promote some discussion on the issue, but not to do any hypothesis testing since while I'd like people to respond those who do so surely wouldn't constitute a random sample, below is a screen shot and link to a very brief survey on people's sense of comfort with algebra and analytic geometry. If you have a couple of minutes, please give it a try. I'm really more interested in the comments than the forced response items. I will publish the results once it seems that the responses have come to a halt.
This has only garnered two responses, which you can see here.
ReplyDeleteI currently have students who seem headed for jobs as financial analysts of companies that are potential targets for acquisition. From what these students are showing in my class, their knowledge and comfort with high school algebra is quite limited. How can those two things go together?
The related issue is whether we are too trusting of others to do the math, because either we're incapable of doing it ourselves or simply don't want to put in the effort. If that's true, isn't it an invitation for some unscrupulous individual to scam use?