A statistical study by the National Mathematics Advisory Panel showed that less than half of American high school students are prepared for college level math. More students are taking higher-level math courses than any other time in the past, and there is also more introductory calculus in high school level than there is in 2 or 4-year colleges. So, we are trying to get our students better prepared for college, but there is no evidence that shows our students are learning the math the way we want them to learn.
At the high school I attended, the students that did not pass the math section in NJASK8 are required to take Alg/Geo freshmen year, Geo/Alg sophomore year, Algebra II junior year, and then their senior year they have an option of taking Business Math or College Math Topic. These students are considered the lower-level students and are taking two courses freshmen and sophomore year that touch on topics in Algebra I and Geometry. Then they are put right into Algebra II with the normal-level students. The layout of the math curriculum for the lower level students is too overwhelming when they get into their third year in high school. Moreover, they are placed in a simplified math course their senior year called Business Math or College Math Topics. Surely if they are not prepared for Algebra II, how could they be prepared for college level math?
Most students are taught how to do math as oppose to understanding what they are doing. They cannot make relationships between different areas of math when in reality almost everything in math is related in some way. They are taught how to work individual topics by using a step-by-step methods their teacher taught them, but they do not actually understand why they can use certain steps or why they can skip a step in some problems. Then, when they are faced with a real application that has to do with that abstract topic learned in class, they cannot see the relationship between the real application and the actual abstract math topic that can be used to solve the application. It is not necessarily fair to blame all teachers, due to the fact that there are so many areas to cover within each math curriculum; that makes it almost impossible to teach understanding for each topic. Also, it is hard to assess the actual understanding of each student. We can assess how they do the problem but not the understanding behind their work.
Throughout schools, mathematics has always had a negative title: boring, horrifying, intimidating, etc. If anyone that walks into a math classroom in the beginning of the year with the mindset that math is horrifying, and has already accepted that math is their worse subject, they are automatically setting themselves up for failure. Many students have that mindset when they walk into their math class and then give up on themselves. While students have this negative thought about math in their head, their goal is to get by just to pass the course. They are not thinking of how this may affect them when they get to college and are, therefore, not prepared for a college-level course.
I believe most high school students are not prepared for college level math because they are too pampered and spoiled throughout middle and high school. Many teachers give students way too much leeway with late assignment, or they simplify assignments at their own students’ convenience. Instead of treating high school students like adults and giving them specific guidelines and high expectations they should follow (similar to a college-level course), students are treated like children and get away with too many things. One can argue that high school students act like children, but if you treat them like kids they will act like kids. Likewise, if you treat them like adults, they will start acting like adults. Teachers should always set high expectations for their students and train them to become young adults that are prepared for the college-level courses.
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