Is the US high school mathematics curriculum really as linear as described here? Do you really work through, say, "geometry" in one go, and never revisit it?
My mathematical education was a bit more like advancing on several fronts at once. A chapter on geometry, then a chapter on basic algebra, then some more advanced geometry, then some more advanced algebra, then some basic trigonometry, which enabled you to understand some more advanced geometry, then...
Assuming you don't take any "advanced" math in college, yes, it is in fact that linear.
It's complicated by the fact that often you spend 2 weeks learning a concept and then have the teacher say "It's going to be on the test but you're not going to use it until halfway through next year so try and remember it!" Most everyone forgets it, so we waste another 2 weeks re-learning it next year.
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Is the US high school mathematics curriculum really as linear as described here? Do you really work through, say, "geometry" in one go, and never revisit it?
My mathematical education was a bit more like advancing on several fronts at once. A chapter on geometry, then a chapter on basic algebra, then some more advanced geometry, then some more advanced algebra, then some basic trigonometry, which enabled you to understand some more advanced geometry, then...
Assuming you don't take any "advanced" math in college, yes, it is in fact that linear.
It's complicated by the fact that often you spend 2 weeks learning a concept and then have the teacher say "It's going to be on the test but you're not going to use it until halfway through next year so try and remember it!" Most everyone forgets it, so we waste another 2 weeks re-learning it next year.
It's certaintly very linear, but I wouldn't say you don't go back to it.