Why Study Algebra?

[melindawarren]

Ok, I win at worst HS math situation (I remember a board of education member once saying to me, "you never did quite have luck with math classes, did you?"). But I still see the value to a basic understanding of algebra. I can't think of anything specific that algebra taught me that, say, basic math didn't (especially because I somehow managed to get myself into a math class in my junior year called "Finite Math." It was basic math all the way to introductory algebra. We only got to do it that way because the first semester was statistics. I don't know how this managed to come after Algebra II, but it was SOOO cool that it did!), but I can say that, imo, some of these annoying classes (things like Algebra or World History) just teach useful skills.

My math classes taught me that some problems only one answer. They taught me how to collaborate with classmates when a particular teacher was being unreasonable, they taught me how to verbalize my concerns over a grade (with a less tangible subject like, say, English, where an essay is incredibly subjective, math tends to be more objective, and if a teacher marked an answer wrong but it was clearly right, you can easily win that one!), and how to attack one challenge multiple ways (because algebra is that kind of subject: there is [usually] only one answer, but there are [usually] multiple paths to that one answer).

Personally? I still hate math, and I avoid using anything beyond basic math when I can. Nonetheless, I still love solving ratios, calculating my grades with fancy formulas, and the occasional multiplication/division question. But algebra? I hardly remember it-I just remember that I learned about things other than math in my high school math classes.