Calculus? You've got to be kidding!

I took calculus in high school.  It was part of the the "college prep" curriculum:  algebra (9th); geometry (10th); trigonometry (11th); calculus (12th).  I was herded along with classmates, oblivious to the actual uses of this "higher math."

Upon graduation, I entered the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.  At that time, not only was the Academy all male, but there were only three majors available, all with emphasis on engineering.  Entering 4th classmen (freshmen) were required to take the same classes, including, you guessed it, calculus.  Since everyone had to take the same courses, the USCGA just listed calculus as "College Math," even though its catalogue description clearly stated "integral and differential calculus."

When my promised opportunity to apply for flight training after graduating the Academy proved completely false (they "misread" the regulations before I entered), I resigned my commission and eventually attended the University of Arizona (Tucson).  The requirements for a business administration bachelor's degree required two semesters of... calculus.  The fact that I'd already taken it in high school and again at the USCGA didn't impress the UofA folks sufficiently to allow me to waive the requirement.  I had to take two more semesters of it to graduate; their argument was that the USCGA catalogue title was "College Math," regardless of what the catalogue description actually defined as "integral and differential calculus."

Even though I vividly remember spending up to 8 hours at a time on homework (we had slide rules instead of calculators "back in the day"), I really enjoyed calculus.  It was challenging and I loved the aspect of problem resolution.  I even tutored other high school and college students while working my way to a degree.

But after 40+ years in a wide variety of business environments, working my way up to being both a CFO and a CEO for numerous entities, I have never found had any practical application for calculus.  The fact that the University of Arizona required me to have two semesters of it to graduate (with an accounting major and management information systems minor) clearly demonstrates the folks who created the curriculum never spent any time working in the "real world."

In order for the U.S. to remain competitive in a global economy, we have to make sure our college faculties not only understand subjects well enough to teach others (often a stretch, and the topic of another blog!), but why they are teaching them and how they can be applied by students after graduating and joining the workforce.  Simply receiving a PhD doesn't meet any of these three requirements.

While diversity in courses is a good idea, students should be given more flexibility in choosing electives.  In retrospect, courses in psychology, geography, philosophy or international relations would have been far more beneficial to my career in management than all the hours spent solving equations that I would never see again after graduation.