BY: MICHELLE GRIFFITH
Sen. Robert Farnsworth, R-Hibbing, during an education debate Tuesday attempted to amend an omnibus package to allow students to graduate without passing his sworn enemy: Algebra II.
“I graduated on June 1, 1996. That was 10,167 days ago, and it has been 10,167 days that I have not used algebra,” Farnsworth said on the Senate floor.
“It is time to stop forcing students to endure this pain and suffering,” he said, jokingly.
On Tuesday, the Senate passed an omnibus education policy package, and Farnsworth’s amendment failed to pass. The amendment would have still required that high school students have three math credits to graduate, but it would have allowed “districts to provide the math classes that they might need for their area,” said Farnsworth, a teacher in the Hibbing School District on the Iron Range. Schools would still be able to offer Algebra II.
Farnsworth, who is a special education teacher in Hibbing, said a school counselor at Hibbing High School asked him years ago to get rid of the Algebra II requirement because more students were taking summer school because of that one course more than any other.
Farnsworth’s contempt for algebra garnered laughs from his fellow senators, but Sen. Steve Cwodzinski, DFL-Eden Prairie, said axing the Algebra II requirement is a discussion that lawmakers should have.
“We certainly need to have this conversation, because those kids who are suffering from all that math anxiety, we certainly wanna help them,” said Cwodzinski in a banter with Farnsworth. Cwodzinski serves as chair of the Senate Education Policy Committee and was a longtime teacher in Eden Prairie.
Farnsworth’s anti-algebra amendment did not garner support from all his Republican colleagues. Sen. Eric Lucero, R-St. Michael, said he felt compelled to speak in defense of Algebra II, which caused several senators to say “Ooo,” in a sarcastic and taunting way.
“Algebra II, while my good friend Sen. Farnsworth may not have used Algebra II in his lifetime that he’s aware of — on a very serious note — mathematics seeks to help people understand deductive reasoning, to process logic, and I am firmly a believer that mathematics is something that we should continue to hold in high esteem,” Lucero said. “Sen. Farnsworth does not know what he’s missing when the adrenaline rush is experienced when completing Algebra II or advanced problems in the daily life.”
In a statement to the Reformer, Farnsworth said his amendment on Tuesday was meant to start a conversation about the state’s graduation requirements.
“When I saw kids stuck in summer school or struggling to graduate because Algebra II, it made me wonder if the requirement is still really necessary for today’s kids,” Farnsworth said.
On the floor, Farnsworth closed his remarks by encouraging his fellow senators to vote for his amendment.
“The last thing that I do wanna say — I would like to refer to something that Sen. Lucero said. He’s talked about how I probably never experienced that rush of completing an algebra problem, and I probably shouldn’t say this on the Senate floor, but no I didn’t … because I wasn’t a nerd,” Farnsworth said.
Senators voted down the amendment 53-12.
Comments