The Ontario Ministry of Education is considering eliminating 12th grade Calculus from the Ontario Curriculum in the 2007-2008 school year.
Prior to the 2002-2003 school year, which was the last time this occured, Ontario had 13 grades instead of 12. The 13th grade was called the Ontario Academic Credit year, or the OAC for short. Students could graduate in grade 12 if they wanted to, but they had to complete the OAC in order to be elegible to apply to a university.
Once the OAC year was cancelled, the former 5 years of high school were squished into 4 years. This created some problems, notably in the mathematics area. Many concepts were dropped from the curriculum because there simply wasn\'t enough room left for them, and because they were considered to be \'too difficult\'.
Many changes and modifications were implemented in the 2006-2007 school year, and the elimination of calculus was meant to be one of them. The ministry thought that students often don\'t have a good enough foundation in trigonometry to be able to move on to calculus. Calculus was, according to them, something better learnt in a university-setting. If students are having trouble learning calculus in a highly personal high school environment, how will they fare in a 150+ person lecture hall The prospect of this triggered a lot of concern among parents and educators alike. It is for this reason that the cancelation of Ontario calculus classes is under extensive review.
The Ministry of Education will make a final decision about the fate of calculus in the upcoming months.
The question still remains: How will this impact high school students A potential math major will be extremely disadvantaged when it comes to university admissions, because calculus is still taught in every other Canadian province.
The purpose of this petition is to keep calculus in our schools. Once it reaches a sufficient number of signatures, I will send it to the Ontario Ministry of Education.
I have been spending my evenings reading through your stories about how calculus prepared you for university life. It is clear that removing this course will leave our students unprepared for the rigors of higher education. I am currently reaching out to local representatives to ensure our concerns are brought directly to the ministry.
June 16, 2007
Seeing this momentum grow reminds me of the countless nights my own daughter spent at the kitchen table struggling through those early trigonometry concepts. It proves that so many of you understand that we cannot abandon our students before they even reach the university lecture hall.
3 Comments
M
Mark Snyder
19 years ago
Featured
Ridiculous decision. high school is for learning these skills so we arent paying thousands of dollars just to fail a basics class.
S
Sarah Webster
19 years ago
Featured
universities expect you to know this stuff already. if they cut it now everyone is going to be completely lost in first year engineering.
D
Dave Ortiz
19 years ago
Featured
keep it! math is hard but we need it.
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Status: Closed — this petition is no longer accepting signatures.
The Ontario Ministry of Education is considering eliminating 12th grade Calculus from the Ontario Curriculum in the 2007-2008 school year.
Prior to the 2002-2003 school year, which was the last time this occured, Ontario had 13 grades instead of 12. The 13th grade was called the Ontario Academic Credit year, or the OAC for short. Students could graduate in grade 12 if they wanted to, but they had to complete the OAC in order to be elegible to apply to a university.
Once the OAC year was cancelled, the former 5 years of high school were squished into 4 years. This created some problems, notably in the mathematics area. Many concepts were dropped from the curriculum because there simply wasn\'t enough room left for them, and because they were considered to be \'too difficult\'.
Many changes and modifications were implemented in the 2006-2007 school year, and the elimination of calculus was meant to be one of them. The ministry thought that students often don\'t have a good enough foundation in trigonometry to be able to move on to calculus. Calculus was, according to them, something better learnt in a university-setting. If students are having trouble learning calculus in a highly personal high school environment, how will they fare in a 150+ person lecture hall The prospect of this triggered a lot of concern among parents and educators alike. It is for this reason that the cancelation of Ontario calculus classes is under extensive review.
The Ministry of Education will make a final decision about the fate of calculus in the upcoming months.
The question still remains: How will this impact high school students A potential math major will be extremely disadvantaged when it comes to university admissions, because calculus is still taught in every other Canadian province.
The purpose of this petition is to keep calculus in our schools. Once it reaches a sufficient number of signatures, I will send it to the Ontario Ministry of Education.
I have been spending my evenings reading through your stories about how calculus prepared you for university life. It is clear that removing this course will leave our students unprepared for the rigors of higher education. I am currently reaching out to local representatives to ensure our concerns are brought directly to the ministry.
June 16, 2007
Seeing this momentum grow reminds me of the countless nights my own daughter spent at the kitchen table struggling through those early trigonometry concepts. It proves that so many of you understand that we cannot abandon our students before they even reach the university lecture hall.
3 Comments
M
Mark Snyder
19 years ago
Featured
Ridiculous decision. high school is for learning these skills so we arent paying thousands of dollars just to fail a basics class.
S
Sarah Webster
19 years ago
Featured
universities expect you to know this stuff already. if they cut it now everyone is going to be completely lost in first year engineering.
Ridiculous decision. high school is for learning these skills so we arent paying thousands of dollars just to fail a basics class.