Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

> the idea is to cancel more advanced classes

Canceling advanced classes quite literally prevents people from taking those classes.

If someone doesn't want to do the advanced classes, they don't have to. But don't prevent others from taking those classes if they want to take them.

> people who need the normal pace class

This is about allowing people to take the advanced classes if they choose, and allowing others to take normal classes.

And other people, who want to cancel the advanced classes, are definitely the ones who want to dumb things down.

Just allow people to take those advanced classes if they choose, and allow others to take take the normal classes. Problem solved.



> Canceling advanced classes quite literally prevents people from taking those classes.

1) You've cut my sentence, which says "cancel more advanced classes IF ...", which means that not all advanced classes are cancelled.

2) You are therefore asking to cancel "beginner's classes". I'm saying "cancel advanced classes as long as there are not enough beginner classes", so you are in practice canceling beginner classes. As any "advanced class" student was first a "beginner class" student, you are canceling the path towards advanced class.

> This is about allowing people to take the advanced classes if they choose, and allowing others to take normal classes.

Quickly looking closer to this, it was NEVER QUESTION TO CANCEL ADVANCED CLASSES. Simply, instead of algebra, do advanced data science (basically statistics), which is probably 1) more challenging, 2) more engaging, 3) more practical.

> Just allow people to take those advanced classes if they choose, and allow others to take take the normal classes. Problem solved.

Which problem exactly? It looks like the "no advanced classes" is just people on the internet getting all exited for something that was never considered.


> You are therefore asking to cancel "beginner's classes"

No, people are not asking to do this, lol. The complaint is about the education report that opposed students being allowed to study algebra in advanced classes.

Thats what this is about.

> Simply, instead of algebra, do advanced data science

Ok, so algebra classes are being cancelled. Yeah, thats the problem!

> Which problem exactly?

The problem of not being able to take algebra classes.


> No, people are not asking to do this, lol. The complaint is about the education report that opposed students being allowed to study algebra in advanced classes.

Obviously, nobody is just coming and saying "lol, I hate children, I want people to be dumb, I will stop them being educated".

The reason this report proposes to replace algebra by data science is because this report argues that data science is making people as smart as algebra, but also, unlike algebra, it does not stop some people to get smart.

(in more details: algebra is a lot of "learn by heart" and is mainly a preparation for higher studies with a learning curve that blocks more people, which means people who have not the luxury to take it will not take it)

> Ok, so algebra classes are being cancelled. Yeah, thats the problem!

They are replaced by something better, and removing them stop some students to end up less smart. Is that really a problem?

I'm sure algebra have some good sides (it's good to get good foundations when someone wants to study math, for example, without being indispensable), but is it worth the cost on other students?

> The problem of not being able to take algebra classes.

And yet before this proposal, no one was able to take data science classes, and no one (and not you) were complaining. Isn't that a bit unfair: you don't mind a world without data science classes (despite the fact that they are better than algebra), but a world without algebra is suddenly a problem (well, not "without algebra", you can still do algebra, just not in the same order)


> The reason this report proposes to replace algebra

Ok, so it is replacing stuff! Not sure why you had to go through so many posts to just admit that.

And people have a problem with what is being replaced.

If you wanted to say that support the replacement of algebra, you should have just said that from the beginning instead of doing this whole rigmarole.

But other people very much do not want this option taken away from them and step one to talking about this is at least admitting that, yes, algebra is being replaced.


> But other people very much do not want this option taken away from them and step one to talking about this is at least admitting that, yes, algebra is being replaced.

Of course algebra is being replaced, where do I say anything different.

I guess my mistake is assuming my interlocutors are not idiots and want to debate the reason of the replacement rather than just staying on "I like Algebra so I'm crying like a baby".

> And people have a problem with what is being replaced.

This is what I don't understand. They don't have any arguments to support the fact that the replacement is not bringing more supported "pro" than "con".

All they say is "I can see one good thing to Algebra, so it implies that this measure can only be a bad one", which is obviously incorrect. In real life, measures usually replace things that are not all bad by things that are better. The point is that you need to weight the pros and the cons. Here, it feels like people are just saying "I don't want to hear the pros, I know one con, and it means it's a bad idea".

I personally like Algebra, and I would have loved it to stay. The same way I like the convenience of some fastfood. But when a study shows that for the same price, they can replace a fastfood menu to a better menu in a school, the normal thing to do is to weight the pros and cons, not just cry because I prefer fastfood.

It is interesting to see that some people who present themselves as on the side of reason will act so irrationally to oppose some proposal without caring of the pros and cons, just because it feels negative in their feelings.




Consider applying for YC's Fall 2025 batch! Applications are open till Aug 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: