I saw this link from IBM's website.
That stuff in the background is all high school freshman Algebra 1 stuff. A basic education requires every high school students know all that. (But most will forget it VERY quickly) When was the last time you saw a hyperbola? Survey a hundred random college graduates on street, I am sure not more than 5 able to tell me the equation of a hyperbola. (ok, x^2+y^2=1 gives you a unit circle, but x^2-y^2=1 ) gives you a unit hyperbola).
Math majors are in demand, article says.
Although you hear reports like that, pure math guys still won't be able to find work (unless you are REAL good so you can do professional math research at universities.) In school I used to work minimum wage as office boy in the math office and I stuffed hundreds and hundreds of rejection letters into envelopes. Look, there are only a few spots in schools, you won't be able to get in unless you are REAL good. Fierce competitions in the few spots in teaching too.
Ok, perhaps you don't have to work in academic institution. You can work for the industries. But where is math in need? Financial markets or some high tech research institution. You will need FAR FAR more than Algebra 1 and even Calculus 1,2,3. And you can't just learn math alone. Financial things, statistics, computer science are must for a math related career. I think math skills is only a small part of a successful math related career.
The headline should say: quantitative analysts with good math skills wanted.
To promote more interest in math, we need a very fun, high budget math education TV show, like Bill Nye the science guy. I don't need to watch adults doing fractions on channel 20 filmed in 1970s again. We should demand more from adults. Fractions is an elementary school topic.
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I too worked at the math department in college. I worked for a government funded program for elementary teachers to teach math more effectively.
It turns out many teachers themselves never learned fractions or decimals. I prepared materials for teachers to learn fractions and learn how to use a ruler.
The problem is money. Not money for schools, but money for teachers. Money should not go to new edition of books, glue and water color, but to the teachers! Give them cash! That would attract the not REAL good math majors foreign students. Teachers should be highly qualified professionals and should make a lot of money. All teachers who are under-qualified should be fired and be replaced with real teachers.
I spent 2 years of my life lost in the education world; and finally come to my senses that I don't want to teach my colleagues algebra.
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