Throw us a bone-shaped tangent, please!

Simply put, physics requires trigonometry.  There is no possible way of fully understanding physics without first learning the math skills necessary for this course.

However, a small but significant number of students struggle through the first semester of physics without taking trigonometry (Trig).  This is completely unfair to these students and the administration should amend the schedule to provide for such students.

Thenceforth, the students who have yet to take Trig but have completed Algebra 2B will be referred to as “trignorants.” As a trignorant, I have spent several hours nightly trying to complete physics worksheets that demand knowledge of a subject I have yet to learn.

There are enough students stuck in this predicament to constitute a Trig class.  Mr. Heyler’s 2008-2009 physics classes had a total of 32 students.  Of these 32, ten had yet to take Trig.  Seven of these ten were in a math elective course the first semester and were waiting to take Trig in the second.  If each of the three physics teachers has the same statistics, there are more than enough trignorants to make at least one Trig class in the first semester.

In addition, this year Mr. Heyler has 28 physics students, and nine of these students are trignorants.  The number of trignorants could continue to rise over the next few years.

Is it really fair that such students are set up for failure?

The administration supposes that we will be fine failing countless homeworks and quizzes due to our lack of knowledge, struggling with concepts that we have yet to learn, and taking a semester exam that necessitates knowledge of Trig.

Students are not the only ones affected by this conflict of schedules. The physics teachers are forced to devote class time to teach math to a few unlucky students. Of course, these teachers know trigonometry, but they should be allowed to spend their time teaching physics instead of math.

For those unaware of the current predicament, trigonometry is only offered in the second semester.  This puts the students who are in the accelerated science track (i.e. in physics in 11^th grade) but in the slightly accelerated math track (i.e. they have completed Algebra 2B but still need to take Trig) in a tough position.

Up until 2001, Trig was offered during both semesters. But some math teachers became concerned that students who took the course during first semester had forgotten the material by the time they got into Precalculus the following fall. So the department changed the sequence to Trigonometry only being offered in the second semester so that it was still fresh in students’ minds as they headed to Precalculus in the next school year.

Quite honestly, after the summer, no one will remember the minute details of Trig.  Senioritis will start to take over. It doesn’t matter if a student takes it in the first or second semester; it will be long-gone from the memories of students by the time they take precalculus.

Around the same time that the math courses were changed, the science department downgraded the math requirement to take accelerated science courses.  Mr. Frederick Heyler, a physics teacher and the science department head, said that this decision was made to offer accelerated science courses to students who were in the standard math track.  He says that students in the standard math course are often frustrated when they encounter math they are unfamiliar with.

“We try to teach whatever is needed at that time,” Mr. Heyler said.  But teaching whatever is needed is not always enough.  Students can memorize the equations, but can still struggle since they do not know the actual concept behind each one.  In addition, simply memorizing the equations does not qualify as actually learning them.  Students should be taught with quality rather than being forced to cram strange equations into their heads.

Some people believe that there are not enough teachers for Trig to be offered in the first semester.  However, if it was done once, it can be done again.  Since some students must take a math elective in the first semester, these math elective classes could be condensed and a teacher who formerly taught a math elective class could teach a Trig class.

‘Iolani prides itself on the way it caters to the students.  If the students want to learn Trig earlier to help them with physics, the administration should assist these students in their search of higher learning.

Throw these students stuck in the mud a rope.  Or, in this case, a tangent.