Hate algebra? MSU has good news

EAST LANSING - Cameron Newhouse, like many college students, struggles with math. The 26-year-old senior tried and failed three times to pass college math classes at Michigan State University.

“It got to the point that I wasn’t passing math here, so I went to (Lansing Community College) and passed it there,” she said, crediting smaller classes and more one-on-one help from professors.

But heading into her senior year, she still lacked a necessary college algebra credit, mandatory for all graduates regardless of major since the 1980s.

That's about to change. Beginning in fall 2017, students will be able to fulfill their general math requirement without passing college-level algebra.

New quantitative learning classes are being introduced as an alternative for students like Newhouse. Advisers are already recommending the new courses to students with the assurance of changes to come, said Doug Estry, associate provost of undergraduate education .

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So long as students pass both semesters of quantitative learning or one semester  of quantitative plus a semester of college algebra, they are in the clear, Estry said. The changes won't affect students in programs like engineering that have their own math requirements.

The quantitative literacy classes will teach students lessons that more directly apply to their lives than traditional college algebra, Estry said. While math and science students benefit from the traditional approach, running from concept to application, research shows it doesn't translate as well to the kinds of problems other students face in the workplace or in their lives, he added.

“The one size fits all college algebra approach wasn’t working for all students,” said  Vince Melfi, an associate professor of statistics and probability at MSU.

The new quantitative classes will better prepare students for the challenges of workplaces that don’t require complex math or science knowledge, he said.

Needing college-level math to graduate hasn’t always been the case at MSU or nationally. As recently as the 1970s, most college math departments didn’t think institution-wide requirements were necessary, according to a report from the Mathematical Association of America .

Students who take the quantitative literacy classes will learn about math through real-life applications first, such as calculating a millage rate, then work backward to the underlying concepts, Melfi said. The goal is for students to understand the material presented in a New York Times science article or how to convert from different units of measurement.

But students aren’t likely to succeed in the new classes or in post-college life without some algebra fundamentals, said William Schmidt, director of the MSU College of Education's Center for the Study of Curriculum.

“Students who come to college with real weaknesses on the formal math side may not benefit fully from the quantitative lessons,” he said.

While every job doesn’t require a well-honed knowledge of advanced math, Schmidt said, learning the fundamentals is essential to problem-solving.

“The logic of thinking algebraically builds ways of thinking about problems, allowing us to engage in the practical aspects of mathematics,” he said. “It’s pretty tough (to do so) without it.”

It’ll be critical in the coming years for MSU to find out what amount of math background students need to succeed in a quantitative literacy class, Schmidt added.

MSU staff have been working on the new classes since President Lou Anna Simon convened a task force a decade ago, Melfi said.

Wayne State University announced a similar move away from general math requirements earlier this summer. There are also ongoing conversations among the state’s 15 universities on how best to serve students moving forward, said Bob Murphy, director of university relations and policy for the Michigan Association of State Universities.

Wayne State drops math as general ed requirement

As recently as 2014, universities and community colleges hammered out the Michigan Transfer Agreement, which makes it easier for students to transfer from one college to another. In doing so, officials set out different paths for students based on their programs.

Moving to a program-specific approach, rather than a general math requirement, will benefit students and their institutions moving forward, Murphy said.

"We’re not making college easier, we’re making college more suited to academic programs,” he said. “Students will have their math requirements, but there’s no reason for a theater major to go through multi-variable calculus.”

Contact RJ Wolcott at (517) 377-1026 or rwolcott@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @wolcottr.