Wesleyan's Class of 2028 Profile is Out

cquin85
Tue, 19 Nov 2024 22:46:54 +0000

HNH:

Fewer than 50% of US high schools offer any calculus course.

I don’t want to get the mods boiling over, but the entire discussion that followed this post depends entirely on the veracity of this statement. Is this true? I’m sure it comes from somewhere, but are we confident in the accuracy?

I realize I live in Seattle and that it’s hardly representative of really anything across the country. But unlike, say, California, CT, MA and similar states, you don’t have to drive too far out of the city for things to change very quickly in terms of relative resources. Take, for example, my home town, about 2 hours from Seattle on the west side of the Cascades. When I was there many moons ago, calc was not offered, but you could take it at the local CC. Now, it is offered, and the economic conditions of my hometown have deteriorated greatly since my time. It’s hard for me to imagine that my old high school, and others with even bigger challenges with which I’m familiar, offer calc and are in that privileged resourced 50%. Very hard to believe. Assuming it’s true, why is self-study the only option? What about CC? If one isn’t nearby, an on-line option? If it makes it to the transcript, I’m sure Wesleyan and other colleges would give it notice and credit.

I also would guess, and nothing more, that a good % of those who don’t take it don’t want to take it, either because they are protecting their GPA, really don’t care about math, or both.

Certainly in the greater Puget Sound area, it would not be hard, at all, for a kid to take calculus in HS if they wanted to.