A recent opinion piece in the New York Times by Andrew Hacker, a professor at The City College of New York, titled, “Is Algebra Necessary?” has generated a considerable amount of discussion.
We disagree with Mr. Hacker’s conclusion/suggestion that algebra should be dropped as a requirement for most students, and actually disagree with several of his arguments. However, his opinion piece is NOT without merit when it comes to being a vehicle for a discussion about both the role of mathematics education, and the specific mathematical fluency needs of a modern industrialized society. See the following brief TED Talk for a quick understanding of the opinion that we hold.
While Hacker does have a point about the direct applicability of algebraic manipulations to many fields of work, the same could be said for many other specific non-math content areas. When was the last time your work required you to be able to quote Poe’s “The Raven?”
Furthermore, while the specific content of algebra may in fact not be directly applicable to the majority of modern work, we believe that the specific mode of THINKING taught in algebra most certainly is. In other words, what’s important about learning algebra is that it teaches a person to learn to apply a specific set of rules to situations. We think that skill is a very important one in an increasingly complex world.
There are some interesting points raised by the Hacker piece, including mentioning what other industrialized nations do when it comes to ensuring a citizenry that has sufficient mathematical fluency. We think that these should not be overlooked just because we don’t agree with Hacker’s principal conclusion.
