CUNY's got math problem: Report shows many freshmen from city HS fail at basic algebr

**FL Patriot** · 11-12-2009

CUNY's got math problem: Report shows many freshmen from city HS fail at basic algebra

BY Joel Schectman and Rachel Monahan
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Thursday, November 12th 2009, 4:00 AM

Giancarli for News
Students Francesca Hernandez, left, and Tamara Martinez, working in the lobby of CUNY: Hunter College, at Lexington Ave.

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More city kids are graduating from high school, but that doesn't mean they can do college math.
Basic algebra involving fractions and decimals stumped a group of City University of New York freshmen - suggesting city schools aren't preparing them, a CUNY report shows.
"These results are shocking," said City College Prof. Stanley Ocken, who co-wrote the report on CUNY kids' skills. "They show that a disturbing proportion of New York City high school graduates lack basic skills."
During their first math class at one of CUNY's four-year colleges, 90% of 200 students tested couldn't solve a simple algebra problem, the report by the CUNY Council of Math Chairs found. Only a third could convert a fraction into a decimal.
The lack of math skills means the CUNY students - nearly 70% of which come from city schools - could struggle to keep up with peers, fail classes or even drop out, the professors charged.
The council submitted its report in September 2008 to Schools Chancellor Joel Klein with a plea to work with city schools.
"We didn't hear anything until this past June," said Lehman College professor and math chairman Robert Feinerman, noting there was a discussion about working together at the time. "But that whole thing seems to have petered out."
CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein countered that he and Klein joined forces several years ago to "tackle the problem head on.... At the senior colleges, we've seen massive improvement," he said.
City Education Department spokesman David Cantor said the agency had been working to improve standards even before the professors' report.
"We had already moved to action," he said.
Still, several Hunter College freshmen approached yesterday had trouble figuring out some of the problems.
"I just did this earlier. Now I forgot it again," Jennifer Fortune, 18, who graduated from Brooklyn's Edward R. Murrow High School, said when asked to answer one of the questions. "I was only required to take two years of math in high school, but I forgot a lot of it."
John Jay College sophomore Ahmed Elshafaie, 19, who graduated from Long Island City High School, said he avoids math classes.
"I don't want to ruin my GPA," he said. "High school standards were really low."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2009/11/12/2009-11-12_cunys_got_math_problem_many_freshmen_from_city_ hs_fail_at_basic_algebra.html#ixzz0Wf5wpxLR

**Imbar** · 11-12-2009

The USA is so far in the toilet that she no longer wins places or shows in many important categories including education.

The USA may churn out fewer Nobel Prize winners and have dramatically regressed since the US government took over the Department of Education, but let’s look at the good news.

Education is really accepted indoctrination into social systems accented with just enough of a weak attempt at math and grammar to not be lynched by the public. Well actually just enough so parents will not call or ask questions at board meetings. Whites can not seem to find the courage or stomach to fight.

In Chicago children may suffer tremendously low scores (graded on a never ending downward spiral bell curve due to Spanish and other students) and be ill prepared for good jobs BUT parents have accepted there are not going to be any more good jobs. The kids are learning, Ebonics, Spanish and going to the Chicago Gay Parade and other important events. Skipping rope to gun fire, watching gang activity, it’s all known and widely accepted by polite white parents.

Who needs advanced math, Latin , and an advanced curriculums when parental concern does not square up to what went wrong in America?

Too many parents embrace political correctness and multiculturalism at the cost of their children’s future.

Americans for Truth Should Children Attend Lewd ‘Gay Pride’ Parades? LaBarbera Asks Biased Chicago Tribune Reporter
Should Children Attend Lewd ‘Gay Pride’ Parades? LaBarbera Asks Biased Chicago Tribune Reporter

Gay Pride Parades Good for Kids? That’s the strange thesis of the Chicago Tribune, which put this photo and caption alongside its biased puff-piece about Chicago parents who pushed to include their children’s elementary school in the city’s annual “gay pride” parade (which takes place this Sunday, June 28). Below right is one of AFTAH’s photos from the 2007 “Pride” parade, in which open nudity was allowed to be flaunted without any punitive action by police or parade organizers. AFTAH’s Peter LaBarbera also witnessed two men engage in a revolting “gay” sex act directly in front of police (on the street) at the 2004 Chicago “gay pride” parade. Police did nothing to stop the illegal public sex act.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/us/07chicago.html

Focus in Chicago: Students at Risk of Violence

Scott Olson/Getty Images
People gathered outside Fenger High School to remember 16-year-old Fenger student Derrion Albert, who was beaten to death in a melee involving a group of youths in September.

Chicago Students Face Daily Violence - CBS Evening News - CBS News
CHICAGO, April 9, 2009
Chicago Students Face Daily Violence

CBS Evening News: 32 Public School Students Have Been Killed This School Year, As South Side Violence Rages