Article from The Toronto Star.

The biggest thing that struck me was this: “We’ve certainly seen a change since the end of the five-year program,” said Kumar Murtry, head of the U of T math department. “We know high school students are not as prepared as they used to be. Math takes time to sink in.”

Obviously they don’t know as much since the high school program went to 4 years. The fifth year was 1st year university material. Some university math professors are surprised that students don’t yet know integral calculus. Now that students aren’t doing their first year university courses in high school, why would you expect them to know this?

Don’t get me wrong. I dislike the backwards slide that the curriculum is in. But this seems like a problem with an easy solution that university experts are losing it over.

High school teachers – work harder to make the material more appealing. University professors – remember that first year courses need to change if they haven’t already. Principals – start busting heads of students using mp3 players, laptops, etc, in class. Students – do your f’ing work, by hand, and focus better.