Pick your own debate!

Thank you, Kleptin, for your response. Now, I shall present a few reasons why Precalculus classes should not be compulsory: 1. Little new material is actually introduced. Precalculus, for me, has actually mostly been a review of Algebra II. We went over polynomials and functions (Algebra, Algebra II), along with trigonometry (Geometry). As students already learn the basic mathematic essentials for life in previous classes, there is no necessary need to keep going. 2. Precalculus applications are limited to certain occupations. Look at this slideshow of applications for Precal: http://tinyurl.com... Exponents are already learned in Algebra. Biologists need to know predator-prey ratios. Bungee jumpers don't even need to calculate their own jumps. Physicists should be doing it for them. Daylight hours are available in weather forecasts. There's no need for everybody to have to understand how to graph daylight hours. One simply needs a graphing calculator, which does not require an entire course to learn. Then, if they need to graph daylight hours, they only need to consult a model explaining how to graph it, with no need to actually understand the trigonometric functions involved. Ultimately, one does not need to know Precal, and can instead get information divined from Precal from people specializing in Precal-related jobs, or look up how to do some Precal-related action from a book, with no need to commit all Precalculus ideas to memory. Here is the course description of Precal: "This course enhances topics taught in Trigonometry, as well as presents additional topics in the area of discrete mathematics. Emphasis is placed on functions, trigonometry, limits, logic, sequences, induction, combinations, and an introduction to the basic ideas of calculus. Students who complete this course should be prepared for AP Calculus." Source: http://tinyurl.com... Trigonometry needs not be enhanced, as enough was learned in Geometry. Discrete mathematics (http://tinyurl.com...) is a very specific field that you probably don't need to know about. Everything else is largely review, as well. I learned most of this stuff in previous math classes. Now, does Barack Obama need to know how to graph daylight hours of random cities? No. He has scientists to tell him. Does J. K. Rowling need to know how to determine if a Side-Side-Angle combination is ambiguous? No. Such a thing is completely irrelevant to Harry Potter novels. Does Mark Harmon need to know how to convert radians into degrees? No. He'd probably have a key if he needed it anyway. Does a random trucker need to be able to determine whether or not two vectors are parallel? No. The map will tell him whether or not two roads are parallel. Does a Language Arts teacher need to know the unit circle? No. There's no point. Does a lawyer have to discover whether or not two planes will crash into each other, given their current coordinates and velocities? No. Air traffickers use that. 3. Precalculus goes too slow for some people. Now, at my school district, in 6th grade, I was taking 7th grade math. In 7th grade, I was smart enough to skip Pre-Algebra and go straight into Algebra I. Numerous kids did this, and the first month was basically a quick review of what we skipped in Pre-A. We then quickly accelerated into Algebra, and ended up smarter than most 9th graders taking Algebra as a level course. We then took Geometry in 8th grade and Algebra II in 9th grade. Now, in 10th grade, 11th grade, and 12th grade, the four courses of math to be taken are Precalculus, Calculus AB, Calculus BC, and Statistics. Statistics does not require any information from any Calculus-style courses, so we'll ignore that for now. In 10th grade, only one AP course is available (World History), but in 11th grade, I'll end up with five AP classes total. Therefore, I have more spare time in 10th grade than 11th grade. If Precalculus is mandatory, then to end up taking Calculus BC, I have to take Precalculus in 10th grade, and then take Calculus BC in 11th grade, reviewing Calculus AB along with working with all my other AP classes. This is a lot of work. I would much rather skip Precalculus and go into Calculus AB, reviewing the few new aspects introduced in Precalculus with the greater spare time, so that by the time I'm in 11th grade, I only have to concentrate on the new material of Calculus BC., and I have 12th grade for Statistics. However, this better alternative is only possible if Precalculus is not compulsory. In conclusion, the kids not interested in pursuing a career requiring advanced mathematics should not be required to take the largely irrelevant Precalculus, while the kids pursuing a career requiring lots of advanced mathematics should not be required to spend an entire year on Precalculus, as it only slows them down. Thank you, Kleptin, and now it is your turn to present your own points.