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I think they should consider offering a personal finance class that teaches teens to value/manage their money and stay out of debt. How many of us in the real world use advanced math and algebra?

More requirements - fewer options. NOT EVERYONE CAN DO ALGEBRA, GEOMETRY & CALCULUS. To this day, I have not used any of the above avg math in classes that I took. There are large sectors in business that most employees won't use it.

** Who knew that I would need to be a professional accountant to manage my own 401k after my company decided they didn't want to pay people to do it anymore. **

Offer common sense courses, with daily applications that students CAN understand and relate to - how to get the best interest rate, student and mortgage loans, avoiding swindlers!! COME ON!! Think about ALL of the students who struggle to score a three on the EOG's just to get to high school.

I know that the State Board of Education has good intentions, but adding a math class will just make it harder for many students who are already struggling to graduate. They should consider having two types of diplomas - a college tract and a vocational tract. Many of the students who drop out today would stay in school if they could learn a trade through a joint venture with the high school and the community college system. They see the need to do it for the college bound students with Early College programs. They need to do the same for the trade school type students. There is nothing wrong with learning a trade or skill. Not everyone is cut out to go to college and if they were, who would repair our cars and pulmbing? This is at least something to consider.

I don't think there is enough real world or practical math to utilize a whole semester's time, but there needs to be a mandatory class teaching kids how bank accounts work, the pitfalls of credit cards (the fact that you do have to pay the money back is something kids and adults don't understand), renting -vs- owning, etc. There is a ton of math that needs to be taught, but is not included on the EOG tests so it is ignored by the board of education."
 

I agree with those who have indicated that a course on Finance and Money Management would be an ideal class requirement. I had Algebra I, II, and Geometry and never use them in my profession. I think the fourth math requirement should be a practical course that will prepare the student for "real life" experiences, no just look good on their transcript.

I have two children, one a rising Junior and one middle-schooler. My highschooler is in Honors courses and works extremely hard while trying to enjoy some of his high school years by participating in High School sports. This year he was working until late into the night to be able to do both. Adding another Math is ridculous, Pre-Calculus is next year as a Junior is he supposed to take university credited classes after that to graduate from high school? My younger son is in Assisted Math and can't even pass the EOG, what is it they expect him to take? Seems to me this is going to increase the drop-out rate when the kids can't pass and get frustrated. The requirements when we went to school were less, yet look at how financially successful most of Wake County's parents are. Come on, enough is enough!

what a bunch of "missed points"....

what's changed over the past four decades or so is that schools have converted from teaching "how to think" to teaching "what to think."

critical thinking has been shoved out of the curricula by zealots of all types, whether religious, anti-science or whatever.

of COURSE you use math and science every day.  you may not label it as such, but the kind of thinking you may have learned in grade school and/or high school enabled you to balance your checkbook, figure out if your car can safely accelerate into a gap in traffic, and maybe even appreciate WHY the moon has phases.  you may be able to better evaluate what a doctor recommends or ask better questions to protect yourself when applying for a mortgage [many folks seemed to have cut that class, eh?], buy a car, decide whether to buy whole life or term insurance, and figure out how many gallons of paint it will take to do that living room wall.....

some of you didn't learn the difference between "track and tract," on the other hand, and that may have kept you out of a better job or relationship.

i agree, not everyone is going to go, or should go to college.  vo-tech schools were popular when i was in high school, and though i had a wonderfully interesting and rewarding career in electrical engineering and computer marketing, i envy the kids who learned to cook in home ec or learned to weld or shape wood in the shop courses i didn't have time for, either.

balance, folks, please? 

plusaf
Northwest Raleigh
27613