Have you ever been sitting in math class and thought to yourself “Will I ever use this once I graduate?” The short answer is yes–just not in as complex a way as the lesson. Think of being in high school as being taught everything you need to know before going into the real world. If you want to continue on with higher education, then of course you will need to know y=mx+b. Algebra gets harder and harder as you gain more knowledge.
Now, what jobs require higher math skills? There are several: engineering, finance, data analysis, architecture, physics, computer science, and even some tradespeople like electricians & carpenters use higher math. And it is not just about what career you might or might not pursue that involves algebra, but about dozens of little math problems you need to solve in daily life. Maybe the reason many people don’t credit math class is that they are often able to figure out an equation without recalling the formula.
Imagine you are babysitting and you charge $15 per hour. In the formula y=mx+b, your earnings (y) depend on the number of hours (x) you work. So, if m is $15 per hour and b is your starting amount (let’s say you have a $10 tip to start with), your earnings equation would be y=15x+10. If you work for 3 hours, you would earn y=15(3)+10, which is $55!
To get to the point, you will need math–and all kinds of other skills you think are useless right now. The West Virginia Department of Education would not put anything useless into the curriculum.
