New Sophia Courses: College Math and Chemistry

[Flelm]

I guess we have vastly different experiences with employers then. I don't expect to have to teach my production planner how to calculate work center capacities, rolled up yields, or process costs, given the correct inputs, and I would be embarrassed if I managed to hire someone that did not have that knowledge.

And so you think that if you hired someone with experience in that, they wouldn't know how to do that?  Or do you think that for someone with experience, they already know it, because they probably learned it on a prior job?  And for someone with zero experience in the field, you're going to have to teach them that because there may not have been a course that would teach them those exact things you want?

In my jobs, there has never actually been a course that taught what I needed to know.  There was no course in Stock Plan Administration (stock options were fairly new back then), so I had to learn over the years at different companies.  So with my first job, my boss taught me what I needed to know; and going forward, I already knew quite a bit and was taught anything I didn't already know.

There is not a college course for every possible thing someone might need to know for a job, and that's where on-the-job learning comes into play, or else prior experience.

And even if someone never takes a math course, I think they can learn plenty.  I hadn't taken any math when I worked in business, and had zero trouble picking up what I needed to know.

I don't want to derail this thread, and I know I can't persuade you, but I will make one more post. If you want to continue this fruitless discussion we can take it to off-topic or somewhere else.

You keep moving the goalposts. Your original post said that "I can honestly say I think those courses [algebra and statistics] are a complete waste of time." (I also disagree that the areas you said are math heavy are actually math heavy, but I will not get into that argument and take what you say as true) ss20ts and I disagreed with you, giving examples where in our day to day business lives we use the fundamentals of those two courses.

You then went off on a tangent on how every company does things differently (true) and you learn things on the job (also true). However, algebra and statistics give foundational knowledge in math for certain aspects of the business world that I don't expect to teach on the job to a college graduate with a business degree (algebra at least, statistics I would expect an engineer or quality engineer to have knowledge in those aspects). I'm not going to spend my time training someone on basic math and other formulas they should know. I'm going to spend my time teaching them how to apply those things to their role. I'm glad that your bosses taught you those basics, but they knew your background when they hired you (I assume).

Just because you, in your career and experience, think you never needed these courses, they are a waste of time and you can learn everything you need to on the job doesn't mean that everyone in the business world thinks so, and I felt like if I just let your single opinion sit there other potential students might ignore these classes and be surprised in their careers. And ss20ts and I had different opinions and experiences that you seemed to take very personally.