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I just got my tranfer credit evaluation back from the college.
Good news - all but one of my classes transferred and that one was a statistics course that I don't need anyway for my chosen degree.
The bad news - I got credit for both Precalculus Algebra and Trig, which I took 14 years ago as a college freshman.
Since my degree requires six additional hours of math above the college algebra level there is no way I can escape taking calculus.
I'm almost freaked enough to consider changing plans and going back to UAB - which only requires the class "Math for Elementary School Teachers." Where I'm headed, Jacksonville State Univ., has no such class. They make us take, like, actual MATH! (the horrors!)
My husband is blowing it off saying I'll be fine, calculus is a breeze. Maybe for him! It's been 14 years since I was in a math class - and I can't take anything easy - because I already have the prerequisites, I have to go straight to calculus. *whimpers*
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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What college are you looking at again? Have you looked at every upper division math course available? (check the college catalog) Sometimes there are interesting ones like "introduction to topology" that are upper division but not as hard core. Business calculus also normally qualifies as an upper division math class and it's normally graded far easier than standard calculus.
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Good luck Belle! I must admit that I consider only having to take one math class a fringe benefit of being an English major. I'm sure you'll do well.
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Why's everybody trying to talk her out of it? Take the Calculus, it's worth it. We need elementary teachers that actually know math.
When I took Math for Elementary School Teachers, most of the people in the class were not math majors, and they acted like: (whining) "Factoring is so-oo hard." The math majors just rolled our eyes like: "Cripes, try taking Foundations of Math II"
BTW, I took Calc II 11 years after I took Calc I and it wasn't so bad. Also, I don't know what the requirements are at your school, but you might try taking Combinatorics, or Foundations of Math I or Basic Number Theory or something. Sit down with a professor from the math department and discuss which courses rely less heavily on prerequisites. I had a blast with Foundations I. It's all logic, no numbers. But Foundations II took all the fun out of it.
Posts: 3735 | Registered: Mar 2002
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She's going to be doing Library Science--calculus isn't something she exactly NEEDS to know. If she were going to teach math, then yeah, I'd advocate for her to take calc. But she isn't. So there's no point is busting ass in a course that she doesn't need.
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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And others would take the faces of those would say that and smear them in honey, then throw them into a bear's cave with bear inside.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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I always do a double take when I'm talking to someone smart and realize they don't know what a derivative or an integral is. I think more people should know about those things.
I think you should learn Calculus, Belle, so you can teach it to your students way before they ever go near a university. Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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Calculus is easy and fun! I would be happy to help anyone who needs assistance with their calculus. Asking me to work math problems is like asking a dog to go for a walk!
What people I've helped with beginning Calculus were mostly having trouble with was the algebra, to tell the truth. In Calculus you're expected to be able to use algebra to quickly and easily solve for unknowns.
When I helped a senior once who had failed or dropped his freshman math requirement 4 or 5 times, I realized that he didn't get anything out of watching the teacher work the problems in class because he had no clue how he got from one line to the next, algebraically. I gave him a list of rules to memorize and practice, like how to add and multiply fractions, how to subtract the same thing from both sides of the equation to move a term to the other side, the quadratic equation, etc. It all fit on one side of one sheet of paper. It's really not that much to learn. And he made a B in the course.
When you're going back to school and playing catch-up, be prepared for the homework to take a whole lot longer for the first term or two, until you get back in the swing of things.
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Ok, I guess I missed the part about library science.
I got thrown by the reference to math for elementary school teachers.
One thing that really bothers me is that a lot of elementary school teachers seem to be girls that wanted to grow up to play with children, instead of people (male and female) who want to help children learn. Maybe I'm not saying this as well as I'd like to, because I know that it's important to like kids, but that shouldn't be the main reason to want to teach.
Anyway, I have seen too many elementary teachers who pass their hatred/fear of math onto their students. If it seems too hard to do, then you either have to get it into your head that you're going to have to work through it until you're good at it, or decide not to be a teacher.
I imagine that this goes for library specialists too, but perhaps there's less likelihood of passing your math fears onto children in that context.
Posts: 3735 | Registered: Mar 2002
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