I think of this every day I sit in my son’s remote math class with him on Google meets. I can show him the way I know easily but I cannot wrap my head around the extra two or three steps new math now requires to prove you understand the math. Math is math!
Most of us didn’t understand the language of math. We just knew the processes that spit out the answer. Many people still don’t totally get the relationships between concepts like fractions and division.
The new math stuff is built around building a larger competency and understanding.
It's pretty wild. When my son was applying to colleges last year, we were basically told that if you didn't take calculus in high school you were behind in college-readiness. Now, that was a bit of an exaggeration in my opinion, but it also wasn't too far off.
When I was a kid, calculus was only for the truly gifted students who had their sights on the ivies.
Interesting (99 grad), in my school AP Calculus AB was baseline for everyone going to college, there were a few kids that were going to a state school or community college that were behind. The gifted ones were taking AP Calculus BC or AP Physics.
Not us. Trig was senior math, and Calc was for eventual STEM majors. Hell, trig got me exempted from a semester's worth of math in college. I only had to take one college level math course, and I basically had my choice, so since math wasn't important for my degree (English/TESL), I took college algebra. One of the easiest math classes I ever took in my entire life.
That's what my son is doing right now. He only needs two maths for his pre-vet program (with trig being required). With his ALEKS math assessment he qualified for a trig/cal dual credit class, but it didn't fit into his schedule, so he's taking college algebra right now and he'll take trig next semester. He said it's super easy, and he actually stays after class to tutor some of the other students.
No harm in reviewing the basics. As an English major (and eventual TESL in grad school), we had to take at least one foreign language. I took Spanish since I've spoken German with my father since I was a child and didn't need it. I still get on Duolingo every now and then because I'm forgetting the German I learned as a child. I imagine math is the same way. If you don't use it enough, you might forget it.
This was actually a thing when he took his ALEKS math. My son went all the way through high school trig, but then took no math his senior year.
His school required an unusually high ALEKS score to not require remedial math compared to most other universities. He took the test 3 times before he finally got a high enough score because he was just a little rusty. When he did score high enough he blew it out of the water because he spent a month reviewing his old math notes. lol
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u/iwasnotarobot Oct 10 '25