How Algebra is going to help me be or become ...?

Today, a student asked one of the typical questions that students ask in a developmental math course: "How Algebra is going to help me be or become ...?" Unfortunately, today this question irked my normal coolness and patience with students. Why students continue having a narrowed mind about knowledge in general? Why they consider course content as useless when they cannot find an immediate application of this content to their lives? Why shut down the unlimited ramifications of what they are learning to focus it only to the present they live in?

As you can see, I was annoyed by the question since I cannot comprehend how students invest so much in a college education to just come out the same way they got in: with a narrowed mind attitude. I thought the purpose of earning a college education is to come out a better person than when we got in. Anyway, here is my response to my student's discussion post:

Students,

Learning Algebra will help you in the following way:

(1) To earn a college degree since it is part of your degree plan. The college degree diploma will open many opportunities that you may have never expected. Once you earn your degree, employers will see this as a person who is persistent, hard worker, self-disciplined and capable of overcoming whatever challenges s/he may face. Isn't this what you experienced in this course?

(2) To make you think in a structured, logical and critical manner. This is what Algebra is all about! When difficult situations arise in your life, you will methodically think and reflect how to solve it instead of just making wild guesses or reactive decisions that most likely you will regret at a later time.

(3) To develop the habit of working smarter, not harder. I am certain there have been times in your life that you are responsible for com! pleting a task that is tedious and repetitive, and you wonder ! if there is a better way to do it. The ability of analyzing if there is a pattern on what you do and find a better-efficient way of doing it is what Algebra is all about.

In my humble opinion, and with all due respect, it is time to stop seeing Algebra as a manipulation of variables, such as x + y = z, and start realizing that Algebra is about understanding how the world around you works, so you can take control and make it better. Isn't this why you are pursuing a college degree?

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