A question on education...

[SA Friday]

A tutor for placement will NOT save you. It will get you placed inm math classes you won't be ready for and you will fail the class or have to drop it at a financial loss. Take the classes. Live in the math tutor room and get their help while taking the classes.

Math is in everything. If you are going to fly or run a business, you just flat out have to understand the math. Hell, the trig in avaition alone it well above the basic business math level. Math is also very accumulative. It builds on itself. No solid foundation and you will never get the higher algebra and calculus.

Take the classes.

[Ronin13]

I had to do the same thing for my degree from Metro. Two remedial classes before taking college algebra. Passed it though!

You can do what my wife did: get a tutor for several months and go over the college algebra textbook, then take the CLEP test on algebra and be done with it.

Oh damn! I totally forgot about CLEP! They pressed us pretty hard in Afghanistan to use downtime not to catch up on sleep but to get on board with DANTES and CLEP so we could get some credits out of the way... then the dreaded "LT Relieved of Duty" set in and we had no downtime.

Cysoto has it right. To "become a helicopter pilot" you will need A LOT of math! It may be "different" math but it's still math.

I was talking more about "non-practical-never-use-in-daily-life-no-matter-what" Math... I understand aviation takes math, but not the kind where they were testing me on stuff I don't even remember learning to be placed.

My wife is struggling with the math requirement at MSCD. She didn’t do well on the accuplacer test and is stuck taking four classes when all of her course work is done. I feel for you; I think the proficiency this school requires to pass the accuplacer is stupid for BA majors. I think the school is discussing changes to the requirements but that won’t help you in the short term.

Are you almost done or are you just beginning or are you somewhere in between? What is your major?

The more you have to keep your resume out of the circular file, the better.

My friend's dad is one of the deans at Metro and he says the math is unfair and doesn't cover "requirements to graduate high school" math, it's more intricate and advanced math that what is required by the state to graduate HS. I have 3 semesters of credits under my belt and going for a BA in History. A subject that has approximately .0003% involvement with math (if you don't include years and the whole BC/AD thing).

[newracer]

+1 for do what ever it takes to get it done. There are a lot of resources out there to help.

[jackthewall81]

Just keep working at it. You can do it!

[SAnd]

...Should I just use plan B and use my GI Bill to pay for flight school and become a helicopter pilot?

So you plan on being a 99%er and join the folks in Occupy Wall Street. (He said sarcastically) You're going to spend big bucks learning a skill with few positions.

You need to check the job market / employment opportunities for low time helicopter (or fixed wing) pilots. Look back over the history of the last 20 or 30 years. Ther aren't that many job opportunties in aviation.

Get a degree and a pilots license. That way they have 2 reasons to hire you.

Hang in there. Maybe you can convince your Dad he needs an aviation division in the family business.

[MrPrena]

I took more than enough math to graduate , and it isn't fun nor easy.

[Aloha_Shooter]

"Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe, and not make messes in the house."
- Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

Just had to get that one out of the way due to the subject.

Note that Heinlein also said in the same book,
"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

His point is that you need SOME math skills in life -- well, you can forget about balancing accounts if you want to run for Congress but you'll darn well want to know how to do that if you're going to run the family business and keep it going.

The real question is, what kind of math do you need to pass to get your degree and function in your family business and what's holding you up in that? As with anything else, a lot depends on the instructor -- I can certainly understand the frustration if you have someone just tossing you a textbook and expecting you to pick it up via osmosis. You probably just need someone who can show you the techniques and relevance (like Schoolhouse Rock did with basic multiplication, history and science for kids 30-40 years ago).

Basic algebra is definitely applicable to running a business. How many units of items A, B and C do you need? Would it be more efficient to get them in pallets of size X or Y? Even basic trig is very useful in daily life. On the other hand, you probably don't need an introduction to calculus for a history degree (although it might be helpful when trying to understand radiocarbon dating).

So ...

1. Determine your goal. If running the family business rather than shuttering it is important to you then do what you need to do to make that happen.

2. Figure out what you need to make that happen. Specifically which math classes do you need to get your degree? Can you place out of any of them based on real world practical experience?

3. What is preventing you from making that happen? Instruction in the relevance of various topics? Time or the right practice problem sets?

4. Find out specific options to assist with the specific remaining problems. A tutor MAY help but figuring out what you want from the tutor will greatly increase the chances of success.

[sniper_tim]

I agree with the other posters that the best thing you can do for yourself is finish your education. Don't give up because you have issues in one subject, recognize you excel in other subjects and allocate your study time appropriately. You don't need to be smart to get an education, only apply yourself and spend the time (I tell my kids to "play the game"), however the smartest thing you will ever do is finishing your education. Finally, math is very time intensive, and each lesson compounds the previous lesson. If you apply yourself EVERYDAY, you will succeed! Math is not a subject you can "catchup" on. I had similar situation and a difficult time with college English classes, primarily because I clashed with most of the teachers. After failing several classes, finding a proper teacher, adjusting my attitude, and committing to apply myself in that subject allowed me to complete the requirements.

Cheers,
Tim

[Sharpienads]

Dude, I bet there's a mathematical equation or model you could plug all these variables into and get the correct answer.

Or find a Zoltar machine.

Or just suck it up and learn math. Sure, some math is ridiculous, but most is necessary and will help you in the long run.

[KevDen2005]

Long story short- I suck at math and MSCD is trying to make me take 4 math classes that give 0 credits then 2 more classes to gain my degree. I hate the subject, always have, always will, and these 4 classes will just make me feel dumb. I'm sorry, I lack the capacity to fully understand math, maybe my brain doesn't work well...
So question, spend time I absolutely do not have on a tutor to get my placement test math area up, or just say eff it to going to college (at the risk of angering my dad who is my boss and refuses to hand over the family business to me without a 4 year degree)? Should I just use plan B and use my GI Bill to pay for flight school and become a helicopter pilot? Letting my brother then be the one solely responsible for taking our family business over and carrying it on so we don't have to close our doors after 61+ years? What to do? I need help bad here as I'm set to start school in January and need to have at least one math class done by Jan 2013 to graduate in time with the GI Bill's limits of # of Semesters.

The four classes that give you no credit are to help you succeed later and be good at math. Take advantage of it. Or get a tutor and retake the college test so you don't have to take those math classes. Either way it will make you good at math or at least better.