 |
 |
 |
 |
MONTHLY UPDATE
UPDATE CONTD 1
UPDATE CONTD 2
UPDATE CONTD 3
UPDATE CONTD 4
UPDATE CONTD 5
UPDATE CONTD 6
UPDATE CONTD 7
STUDENTS SPEAK
QUALIFICATIONS
EVALUATION FORM
LINKS
MEMOS
May 23 1994
Sept 6 1995
March 20 1997
April 3 1997
Jan 5 1998
March 31 1998
Sept 15 1999
May 17 2000
Sept 11 2000
Oct 16 2000
Nov 14 2000
Nov 15 2000
Feb 10 2001
March 15 2001
March 19 2001
June 9 2003
April 17 2006
Sept 18 2006
Sept 27 2006
Oct 23 2006
Dec 9 2007
Dec 16 2007
| MEMO FROM: M. Millman TO: Math Faculty DATE: 9/15/99 RE: Continuing Degradation of the Department Attached please find a copy of the precalculus diagnostic test I gave at the first meeting of my Calculus I class this semester. I'm sure you'll agree it is ridiculously simple and that you would be hard-pressed to produce a simpler one. 36 students took the test, 33 of whom took Precalculus here at LaGuardia. The class average was 36%! Only three students scored above 60%. Undoubtedly, similar results would be obtained in the other five sections of Calculus I. To characterize these unfortunate students as miserably ill-prepared for Calculus would be a charitable understatement. I conclude that there is no way, short of massive grade inflation, to prevent a huge number of F grades in Calculus I this semester. I can only attribute this result to inept leadership and grossly inappropriate (but mandatory) choices of textbook and classroom procedure in Precalculus over the past two years. These are not stupid students, but Math Department policy is, in effect, crippling them before they learn to walk. This, combined with similarly poor (and again mandatory) choices of text and procedure in our remedial courses (leading to a 50% failure rate on the CUNY exam), as well as perpetuation into a THIRD year of our fraudulent Statisics course, not only removes the joy of teaching, but renders one's daily activities here a meaningless charade. I know many of you agree with me. We should all urge our chairman to stop the damage that is being done by returning to a sane curriculum. cc: Vice President R. Sussman CALCULUS I DIAGNOSTIC PRE-TEST 1. Solve for x: x^2 + x - 2 = 0. 2. Solve for x: 3(2x + 1) = x + 8 3. Solve for x,y: 2x + y = 1 ; x - y = 5 4. Find the slope of the line whose equation is y = 3x + 7. 5. Find cos 90. 6. Sketch the graph of y = x^2. 7. Combine into a single logarithm: logx + logy - logz. 8. Combine into a single exponent: (e^x)(e^y)/(e^z). 9. Add: 2/x + 3/y 10. F(x) = 3x/(x-1). Find F(2). |
 Sign Guestbook |
 View Guestbook |
| Visitors: 01900 |