Higher math in lower grades: helpful or hurtful?

Parents want their children to be competitive, which means taking higher and complicated math like algebra in lower grades. However, what parents fail to realize that higher math like algebra, is an extremely complex and sophisticated course, is a demanding subject which takes a lot out of the student. Hence the debate arises that is it really necessary to introduce higher math courses in lower grades?

As there are two sides to a coin, similarly there are two aspects of this particular issue. Policy makers such as politicians are the proponents of the idea of exposing middle school students to higher math. In their argument, they have argued that the pace of world has risen exponentially in recent years making technology more complex and complicated; hence there is a dire need to expose younger students to higher math. Similarly, California lawmakers in 2008 started a campaign according to which it was mandatory for eight grades students to learn algebra. The campaign was equated by Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger to President Kennedy’s pledge to land man on the moon.

On the contrary, there are opponents of the idea of introducing higher math at lower grades suggesting that eight grades student are not ready to grasp algebra. One of the opponents of the California’s campaign was Professor of Education; Dr. Bruce Mitchell, who in 2008 wrote a letter to the editor of The Ventura County Star. Dr. Mitchell referred to the research of Dr. Harman Epstein according to which brains of human have rapid growth periods and there is a period in human’s life called plateau period in which the brain sees no real exponential growth at all. So according to the research, most of the students are in plateau period when they are in middle school. Therefore, as per the study of Dr. Epstein, it is not an optimal option to introduce higher math in middle school because it involves high-level thought processes and that is the reason why many students from middle school fail algebra than any other subject. Historically, schools usually introduced algebra when their students are in grade 10 to 12. In the age of 10 to 12, students are in a 14-17 age group, which is a growth-spurt stage and this is an optimal age to introduce higher math like algebra because it is in this age students should be learning abstract reasoning concepts.

Parents are after listening to the arguments from both sides is compelled to make a choice. The choice is whether to listen to the politician according to whom it is necessary for their children to be exposed to algebra at an early age or to the academic researchers who believe students should not be exposed to higher math at a younger age. No doubt to make this particular choice is difficult but parents can make this decision if they think their children are struggling to grasp algebraic concepts hence they would be doing a favor for their children to wait another year before enrolling them in algebra.