Algebra - it's everywhere

Algebra.

The very word can twist the stomachs of otherwise well-adjusted adults, dredging up memories of nonsensical X's and Y's and a lifelong loathing of math.

For many, the math course was the educational equivalent of castor oil, forced down the throats of teenagers who questioned when they would ever encounter that train leaving Boston at 60 mph.

In July, the state Board of Education decided every eighth-grader must have a healthy dose of algebra - a decision critics attacked as failing to recognize the lack of qualified math teachers and the high failure rate for the middle school students already taking it.

Supporters, however, argued algebra improves critical thinking, is the gateway to college and puts all kids, regardless of income or ethnicity, on the path to a good career.

Lost in the debate was, well, algebra.

"I doubt if the politicians promoting this have any idea what they're promoting," said Keith Devlin, Stanford University researcher and mathematics professor, as well as the "Math Guy" on National Public Radio. "Few people know what algebra is."

Algebra, says Devlin, is a language, a very precise language written in symbols, and it's everywhere: in nearly all electronic devices, every statistic and each Internet search engine - and, indeed, in every train leaving Boston.

"You can store information using it. You can communicate information using it," Devlin said. "Google has made billions capitalizing on algebra."

Yet our schools don't always do a very good job teaching it, Devlin said. Instead of showing students the possibilities and beauty algebra offers, they ultimately steer frustrated and bored students away from math and the 21st century careers that use it - the opposite of the intended result.

'We're turning kids off'

"Most of us who become mathematicians do so not because of our education but in spite of it," Devlin said. "We're turning kids off a subject that is useful and incredibly interesting and beautiful if taught correctly."

Too often, algebra is taught as a set of rules and procedures - the equivalent of teaching a foreign language through vocabulary lists and repetitive conjugation of verbs, the students never understanding they could use the information to order a meal in Madrid or make a friend in China.

In short, the teacher matters. A lot. Just ask Alameda artist Alana Dill.