There's some good and bad news when it comes to your kids' math homework. A new study found that kids who take more math make more money than kids who don't, later on in life. So, good news if your child is killing it at algebra. If not, well, all hope is not lost, obviously. But it is some interesting data.
The study was done by Harvard Kennedy School Policy Professor Joshua Goodman, who looked at high school students that graduated in the 1980s, when schools were required to increase coursework required for graduation. He found that many African American students were required to take more math and ace it — which resulted in higher incomes for the group later in life.
About 15 years after they graduated, the average earningsincreased about 10 percent for every single year of extra math classes. It's not like more math makes people smarter, Goodman said. But knowing basic math concepts helped "high school graduates to pursue and excel at jobs that required some level of computational knowledge."
Goodman added, “Our efforts to increase access to high-quality science and math education likely do matter for people’s life outcomes."
That's something to think about as the Department of Education makes changes to required curricula for schools — which classes that students take matters. To read the full article, click here.
