Comment Re:Or could it be the way they're taught (Score 1) 427
grade 1-3 - addition, subtraction, basic shapes (passed off as geometry) grade 4-6 - addition, subtraction, basic shapes, might see a fraction by grade 6 grade 6-8 - all of the above, fractions, simple geometry.
Then in grade 8-9 where they start to introduce simple algebra.
Having read this, it doesn't surprise me that the students who took no mathematics were able to catch up so fast. You hardly did anything at all.
OK, attempting to jury rigging the K-12 system around the one over here (Ireland), this is how I remember things going(My memory is fuzzy and I wasn't keeping a record at the time. But I think this is fairly representative.).
grades -1,0 - naming numbers 1-10, possibly some teens. Very basic addition. Shapes. grades 1-2 - General addition, subtraction. Introduction of base number system, unit, tens, hundreds, etc. (Fractions?) Multiplication. Times table, perhaps basic geometry. grades 3-4 - More times tables. Fractions I presume. Division. Decimals. Long division. More geometry. grades 5-6 - More decimals. More long division. More geometry(Pi gets badly introduced here). (square roots?). Word problems.
grade 7 - Basic algebra. Exponents. Co-ordinate geometry. Set Theory. Euclidean Geometry. Polynomial Long Division. Simultaneous linear equations. grades 8-9 - Functions. Basic Trigonometry. Quadratic equations. Basic Statistics. Logarithms. Even more Euclidean Geometry. (Differentiation?)
grades (10)-11-12 - Complex numbers. Coordinate Trigonometry. Vectors. Differential Calculus. Integration. Binomial Expansions. Probability. More statistics. Matrices.
And my understanding is that what I is somewhat less than that done in the English GCSEs, and apparently pales in comparision to the mathematics curricula in Russia and post Soviet states. I honestly don't know how the US expects to maintain an adequate presences in STEM if the basic mathematics curriculum is so deficient. The notion of an able student of 18 completing 12 years of formal education without being able to differentiate seems very odd to me.
My kids are in 3rd and 4th grade, and your table there looks accurate for them so far with the exception that my son (4th grade) is already doing square root and they started word problems in 3rd grade. From reading over the school districts web site, the comparison ends around the 10th grade mark unless the child chooses to pursue higher level mathmatics (which from what I remember of high school is a small percentage while the rest take some form of applied math or none at all).
