One of the major crocks in school and collegiate education systems is the notion that everyone needs higher math and sciences and so-called foreign-language fluency.
Forget about aptitude, ability, career goals and potential for use. Algebra, lab science and a foreign language have to be mastered by everyone in today’s high schools and colleges.
Why? Do most of us need algebra—or its more complex mathematical cousins—to do tax returns, balance checkbooks, determine interest rates, invest in stocks, obtain mortgages and credit lines?
Do most of us need more than survey courses in the biological and physical sciences to understand the world around us?
Do most of us need one or two years of rudimentary instruction in a foreign language we will never use?
What the hell do journalists, thespians, law-enforcement officers, social workers, librarians, musicians—to name just a few professionals—need with higher math, lab sciences and foreign language?
Fluency can't be achieved in one or two years and, besides, English is the international language of commerce, diplomacy and culture.
Certainly math, science, business and English-as-second-language teachers need advanced skills, but not elementary or other secondary instructors.
Students who demonstrate early aptitudes for technical fields or languages should be encouraged to pursue more challenging courses and careers in those areas.
Students without such aptitudes or interests should not face mandatory roadblocks to graduation. (6 OCTOBER 2002)
