lookninjas:

Just read another post saying that kids shouldn’t learn algebra because they don’t need it and –

I mean, even if we pretend that the process of working your way through a mathematical proof and learning to apply seemingly abstract formulas to the actual work and going back and spotting errors and doing that kind of detail work is absolutely useless to the vast majority of us in our real lives (spoiler alert: IT NOT), you guys do realize that we are not in fact living in some kind of Brave New World dystopia where we are all put in color-coded jumpsuits once we emerge from our test tubes and only the children bred for high IQs are allowed to become scientists while the rest of us shovel shit, right?  We are all the same teeming mass of potential at eleven years old, and the only way to see which direction that potential is going to go is to feed the young brain a little of everything and see what it latches on to.

And also, ALSO, ALSO: 

Do you fucking get why minorities and women are traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields?  Do you?  DO YOU?  IT IS BECAUSE THEY ARE OFTEN DENIED A QUALITY EDUCATION IN SUBJECTS LIKE FUCKING ALGEBRA.  Because they’re not going into STEM fields anyway, so they don’t need it.  Because they’re not going to college, so they don’t need it. Because they’re only going to get married and have children, because they’re only going to be blue-collar laborers, because they’re only going to go to jail.  So they don’t need algebra, because they won’t use it.

Because in the absence of color-coded jumpsuits, we go with other arbitrary labels to choose who our scientists and mathematicians will be.  And I don’t think I need to fucking tell you what they are.

Mathematics is the language of the universe.  It is literally everything we are.  It is how we find our place in the spinning galaxy, our relationship to the sun and the moon and our fellow planets.  It is the smallest chemical reaction in the infinite cells of your body.  It is music, it is architecture.  It is how you know that if you set the cruise control to 80, you’ll be home in two hours (barring traffic).  It is the precise curve of your shirt collar and the humming electronics that allow us to speak to one another no matter where we are.

And you need this.  You do.  Because if you don’t have it, your ability to converse with the whole of creation is limited to “Hello,” “Thank you,” and “Bathroom?”

STOP LETTING PEOPLE TAKE THIS FROM YOU.  This is your birthright as much as it is anyone’s.  Seize that shit with both hands. 

Every student deserves a quality mathematical education that will take them as far as they can go.  We shouldn’t be eliminating algebra.  We should be expanding it!  We need to make sure every kid out there is getting the best damn math classes we can give them.  To teach them not to be afraid of numbers.  To teach them to be excited about it.  To show them the beauty!  Because what algebra can do, and where it can take you?  That’s the stars, man.  That’s the fucking future.

Better algebra.  More passionate algebra.  More enjoyable algebra.

Not less algebra, and definitely not no algebra. 

ETA, because this has come up enough in the notes that I feel the need to clarify:

It is absolutely not my intention to make people feel lesser in any way if math is something that is hard or outright impossible for them.  If that’s how my post came off, then clearly I didn’t phrase things well, and that’s on me and I apologize for that.  

My position, in the end, is this:  Although math is always going to be hard for some people, due to disabilities or simply lack of interest or what-have-you, the current American educational system makes it far too hard for far too many people (and while I specifically referenced people of color, poor people, and women, I would like to note that as long as we’re on the topic of ableism?  We’re not doing a great job of accommodating kids with intellectual/developmental disabilities either).  And I think we are way, way too quick to assume that students are struggling because of a failure on their part when really the problems are failures in teaching, failures in the educational system in general, and a societal failure to prioritize a really quality education for all students.

And I just feel that our society is so complacent with this.  We’d rather give up on a subject than work on fixing the broken system that makes it so hard for so many.  And I hate that.  I really do.

I know we can’t make math easy for everyone.  And no student should be forced to suffer through classes that are truly incomprehensible to them.  But we need to do our damndest to make sure every student is getting their best shot at comprehending the subject, and right now we’re just not.

And that sucks.