Ontario just made some big changes to the high school math curriculum
The Government of Ontario is finally updating its secondary school curriculum to add in some subject matter that many of us adults wish we'd gotten to learn when we were younger.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced on Wednesday that grade 9 math — known for linear equations, graphing and exponents — will now, as of fall 2021, touch on much-needed topics that have more real-world applications.
That's right: High school students will now be taught things like coding, mathematical modelling and, most importantly, financial literacy to better "represent and analyze real-life situations" and more adequately prepare them for today's job market.
Before this, the curriculum hadn't been updated since 2005 — the same year, the province notes in a release, that YouTube was launched.
The world & economy has changed since 2005. And so should Ontario’s math curriculum.
— Stephen Lecce (@Sflecce) June 9, 2021
We unveiled a new de-streamed math course that equips students with critical life & job skills.
Mandatory learning from coding to financial literacy will help secure #JobsOfTheFuture.
1/3 pic.twitter.com/3KZVMeyRJH
Lecce added in a press conference today that Twitter and the first iPhone didn't yet exist that year.
He said that the government is "proud to be launching a new curriculum that is focused on the job market and gives young people skills they can apply to their lives, to their households, and to personal budgeting with an emphasis on financial literacy."
Another new update coming to the school system this fall will be the doing away with applied and academic class streams — starting with this new math class — which usually divide students in key subjects from grade 9 onwards.
The move is meant to give more students more opportunities and to "address policies and practices to address the achievement gap and creation of barriers for students from historically marginalized groups," the province says.
