Social Harvard to introduce remedial math like Algebra because its students are not smart anymore

[Richmma80]

Harvard University: The Ivy League teaching remedial math

Owing to weak testing skills, Harvard is now offering remedial math.

nypost.com

The "prestige" of Harvard is going down the shitter all because they want to have more black and brown students in the name of equity

They'll be unseated in the future by some random university in China

The school’s math department is providing a new scaled-back math class for freshmen who are apparently arriving on campus lacking “foundational skills” in high school math basics like geometry and algebra.

Harvard is quick to blame these math gaps on pandemic learning losses — but, in truth, administrators brought this mess on themselves by scrapping standardized testing requirements during the pandemic, all in the name of equity.

 

[Rob Battisti]

Harvard University: The Ivy League teaching remedial math

Owing to weak testing skills, Harvard is now offering remedial math.

nypost.com

The "prestige" of Harvard is going down the shitter all because they want to have more black and brown students in the name of equity

They'll be unseated in the future by some random university in China

I can’t imagine people getting into Harvard needing remedial courses

 

[White Whale]

I thought Havard was for rich kids and the smartest of students.

 

[StewDogg11]

I can’t imagine people getting into Harvard needing remedial courses

The ones who do were obviously never really Harvard material to begin with.

 

[Cole train]

Atleast here its been proven by stats that people are getting dumber but no clue of rest of the world

(Peak intelligence was about near 90s timewise if i recall correctly)

 

[SandisLL]

I can’t imagine people getting into Harvard needing remedial courses

Yes.
However they are not exaxtly math focused. They does have damn a lot of other stuff.

I maybe soon will read articles that remedial courses in math are introduced in MIT or math faculty in Cambridge too¿ For shake of clickbait sense for a living.

They does have also humanitarian programmes, psychology and so on.
Phyil usually requires module in math logic...
History etc no...

 

[panamaican]

I can’t imagine people getting into Harvard needing remedial courses

I don't have a problem with it either way but there are many kids with impressive high school resumes who haven't taken math focused curriculums in high school. As the article points out, going test optional certainly increased the number of kids who weren't math focused getting into the school.

The problem, on a large scale (not a Harvard scale - Harvard can do what it wants and I don't know why so many people feel emotionally invested in their downfall)...

The admissions problem, on a large scale, is that math is an acquired skill, not an intrinsic one. Yet people treat it like an intrinsic skill. The issue here is that without appropriate exposure to the foundational skills, it becomes impossible to acquire the advanced skills. And that appropriate exposure ends up being heavily influenced by environment.

A lot of people will respond to that and say "if they're smart, they'll learn math." Which is true. But that learning might take place later in the academic cycle. Not learning math until one is older doesn't make that person less intelligent. They might demonstrate markers of high intelligence in non-math fields. Harvard went test optional hoping to find intelligent kids, despite a lower level of math exposure.

The end result is that they might have to introduce remedial math for algebra but it doesn't mean the students themselves are less bright.

Just for a parallel, in law school, they have a basic math course for lawyers because many of them haven't taken a math class since sophomore year of high school. They're not unintelligent people, they just haven't done enough math to be casually proficient. But, the reality is that they don't need math to be great lawyers so judging them on math skills kind of misses the point.

Do Harvard English majors need to be proficient mathematicians too? Probably not.

 

[Scerpi]

Yes.
However they are not exaxtly math focused. They does have damn a lot of other stuff.

I maybe soon will read articles that remedial courses in math are introduced in MIT or math faculty in Cambridge too¿ For shake of clickbait sense for a living.

They does have also humanitarian programmes, psychology and so on.
Phyil usually requires module in math logic...
History etc no...

lol... Yeah, because getting a 1400+ on your SAT means you need remedial math... idiot

 

[Scerpi]

I don't have a problem with it either way but there are many kids with impressive high school resumes who haven't taken math focused curriculums in high school. As the article points out, going test optional certainly increased the number of kids who weren't math focused getting into the school.

The problem, on a large scale (not a Harvard scale - Harvard can do what it wants and I don't know why so many people feel emotionally invested in their downfall)...

The admissions problem, on a large scale, is that math is an acquired skill, not an intrinsic one. Yet people treat it like an intrinsic skill. The issue here is that without appropriate exposure to the foundational skills, it becomes impossible to acquire the advanced skills. And that appropriate exposure ends up being heavily influenced by environment.

A lot of people will respond to that and say "if they're smart, they'll learn math." Which is true. But that learning might take place later in the academic cycle. Not learning math until one is older doesn't make that person less intelligent. They might demonstrate markers of high intelligence in non-math fields. Harvard went test optional hoping to find intelligent kids, despite a lower level of math exposure.

The end result is that they might have to introduce remedial math for algebra but it doesn't mean the students themselves are less bright.

Just for a parallel, in law school, they have a basic math course for lawyers because many of them haven't taken a math class since sophomore year of high school. They're not unintelligent people, they just haven't done enough math to be casually proficient. But, the reality is that they don't need math to be great lawyers so judging them on math skills kind of misses the point.

Do Harvard English majors need to be proficient mathematicians too? Probably not.

Holy shit... lol

What a load of horseshit. Algebra is taught in what? The 8th grade?

Fuck me.. If you haven't learned remedial math by the 12th grade, have zero business being allowed in Harvard.

 

[lsa]

hmmm this is weird.
Sweden is seeing the same problem at university level.
Student in economy cant basic math

 

[TheMoa]

2022 I've decided to get back to college here in Brazil. It was a good university by brazilian standards. It was the first batch of students back to he classroom after covid (the years before had online classes) and mostly did half of high school in online classes.

I was appalled by the level of the students, the kids had no idea how to study and every damn class they would cry asking for online tests and school work that could be done from home. 2/3 of the class failed analytical geometry (60% of the score were lists to be delivered along the semester) because they delivered copy and paste lists.

Now, I know it's brazil and it's not Havard... but I do think there's bunch of young adults out there that got really impacted their learning ability with the lock-downs, plus chatgpt to do most of the work.

 

[lsa]

2022 I've decided to get back to college here in Brazil. It was a good university by brazilian standards. It was the first batch of students back to he classroom after covid (the years before had online classes) and mostly did half of high school in online classes.

I was appalled by the level of the students, the kids had no idea how to study and every damn class they would cry asking for online tests and school work that could be done from home. 2/3 of the class failed analytical geometry (60% of the score were lists to be delivered along the semester) because they delivered copy and paste lists.

Now, I know it's brazil and it's not Havard... but I do think there's bunch of young adults out there that got really impacted their learning ability with the lock-downs, plus chatgpt to do most of the work.

honestly i blame TiKTok, that shit has made people dumber.

 

[Chad R. Thundercock]

And Asian American students continue to get the shit end of the stick from these reverse discriminatory policies despite being a minority themselves.

I mean, this is odd. We're held to a higher standard than not only Hispanic and Black students, but also White students, who make up the majority of this nation. I thought the American Dream was based on the premise that the United States of America is a meritocracy.

Very rarely is the question asked, "What are the differences among the cultural values regarding education according to race in our country and how do they contribute to the formation to such reverse discriminatory policies?" I think it's a shame that any suggestion to having an open discourse regarding the matter is quickly dismissed and deemed as racist.

So if it's not due to the differences among cultural values, then what is it? Asians are just born this way and naturally have higher IQ levels than other races? But shouldn't that be considered even more racist?

For the record, as far as the whole "nature vs nurture argument" goes, I'm fully in support of the latter.

 

[Possum Jenkins]

Fuck me.. If you haven't learned remedial math by the 12th grade, have zero business being allowed in Harvard.

Good thing the course in question isn't "remedial math" then-

An In-Depth Introduction to Functions and Calculus I

Harvard Mathematics Department Undergraduate Information

Undergraduate students welcome to the Harvard Mathematics Department! Find all the Harvard Mathematics Department Undergraduate Information that you need here.

www.math.harvard.edu

And it's not really a new course. It's an existing course where students meet more often and are given more support:

Despite the schedule differences, MA5 will reflect the material and structure of MA and MB, collectively known as Math M.

“Math MA5 is actually embedded in Math M,” Kelly said.

“They’ll have the same psets, they’ll have the same office hours, they’ll have MQC, they’ll take the same exams,” Kelly added, referring to the department’s Math Question Center. “So if you’re in MA5, you will experience Math M.”

Harvard Launches New Intro Math Course to Address Pandemic Learning Loss | News | The Harvard Crimson

The Harvard Math Department will pilot a new introductory course aimed at rectifying a lack of foundational algebra skills among students, according to Harvard’s Director of Introductory Math Brendan A. Kelly.

www.thecrimson.com

And finally, this class was developed to account for learning gaps caused by the pandemic, not black and brown students like the usual racists are claiming.

If it was, Harvard would have introduced this 30+ years ago. They've had significant amounts of black and brown students for decades now-

 

[Chad R. Thundercock]

Holy shit... lol

What a load of horseshit. Algebra is taught in what? The 8th grade?

Fuck me.. If you haven't learned remedial math by the 12th grade, have zero business being allowed in Harvard.

I had a few Asian friends in my high school who scored a perfect 800 on the math section of the SAT and they were still denied by all the Ivy League schools. And English Literature or Political Science were the majors that they elected.

What a crock of shit.

 

[panamaican]

Holy shit... lol

What a load of horseshit. Algebra is taught in what? The 8th grade?

Fuck me.. If you haven't learned remedial math by the 12th grade, have zero business being allowed in Harvard.

Nice, a complete misread of what I wrote. Somethings never change.

 

[Scerpi]

Good thing the course in question isn't "remedial math" then-

An In-Depth Introduction to Functions and Calculus I

Harvard Mathematics Department Undergraduate Information

Undergraduate students welcome to the Harvard Mathematics Department! Find all the Harvard Mathematics Department Undergraduate Information that you need here.

www.math.harvard.edu

And it's not really a new course. It's an existing course where students meet more often and are given more support:

Despite the schedule differences, MA5 will reflect the material and structure of MA and MB, collectively known as Math M.

“Math MA5 is actually embedded in Math M,” Kelly said.

“They’ll have the same psets, they’ll have the same office hours, they’ll have MQC, they’ll take the same exams,” Kelly added, referring to the department’s Math Question Center. “So if you’re in MA5, you will experience Math M.”

Harvard Launches New Intro Math Course to Address Pandemic Learning Loss | News | The Harvard Crimson

The Harvard Math Department will pilot a new introductory course aimed at rectifying a lack of foundational algebra skills among students, according to Harvard’s Director of Introductory Math Brendan A. Kelly.

www.thecrimson.com

And finally, this class was developed to account for learning gaps caused by the pandemic, not black and brown students like the usual racists are claiming.

If it was, Harvard would have introduced this 30+ years ago. They've had significant amounts of black and brown students for decades now-

lol... Ok

"The new course, called Math MA, is one year long and meets five days a week, compared with the regular two days. According to the department’s website, “extra support will target foundational skills in algebra, geometry, and quantitative reasoning that will help [students] unlock success.”

Hahaha... Foundational skills for shit learned in Junior High.

Got it

 

[SandisLL]

hmmm this is weird.
Sweden is seeing the same problem at university level.
Student in economy cant basic math

Might happen but usually swedes aren't dumb and even with just HS does knows some math.

 

[ColemanwastheGOAT]

What changed about the type of people getting into Harvard?

Oh....

 

[avenue94]

Do Harvard English majors need to be proficient mathematicians too? Probably not.

My thoughts too. Algebra isn't a prereq for every discipline.

Bottom line, awful lot of sherbros who don't understand basic stats ("I know a guy who ___ so everyone ___) getting out their pitchforks here over algebra.

And Asian American students continue to get the shit end of the stick from these reverse discriminatory policies despite being a minority themselves.

Yeah, it's not like admissions are multifacted and there's more to students than standardized tests.

Very rarely is the question asked, "What are the differences among the cultural values regarding education according to race in our country and how do they contribute to the formation to such reverse discriminatory policies?" I think it's a shame that any suggestion to having an open discourse regarding the matter is quickly dismissed and deemed as racist.

So do the Hmong and Vietnamese have shit culture or something? Most of the differences in Asian American performance come down to income and prior affirmative action. Culture is pretty far down the list.

I had a few Asian friends in my high school who scored a perfect 800 on the math section of the SAT and they were still denied by all the Ivy League schools. And English Literature or Political Science were the majors that they elected.

What a crock of shit.

People really overvalue what an 800 means for the SAT math section.

Also you kind of answered your own question, why would Polisci want 800s for math as opposed to better writers or or parts of an application?