AMBER NEWS

Algebra is one of the biggest hurdles to getting a high school or college degree — particularly for students of color and first-generation undergrads. It is also the single most failed course in community colleges across the country. So if you're not a STEM major (science, technology, engineering, math), why even study algebra? That's the argument Eloy Ortiz Oakley, chancellor of the California community college system, made today in an interview with NPR's Robert Siegel. At American community colleges, 60 percent of those enrolled are required to take at least one math course. Most — nearly 80 percent — never complete that requirement. Oakley is among a growing number of educators who view intermediate algebra as an obstacle to students obtaining their credentials — particularly in fields that require no higher level math skills. Their thinking has led to initiatives like Community College Pathways, which strays away from abstract algebra to engage student...

Wizkid , the Nigerian pop star who appeared on Drake's otherworldly smash single "One Dance," released his fourth album last week, entitled  Sounds From the Other Side , but in an interview with Ebro Darden on Beats 1, the 27-year-old refused to call the release an 'album,' instead choosing to label it an 'EP.'  To be clear, at 12 tracks long and with a running time of just over 39 minutes,  Sounds From the Other Side  is not an EP—it literally cannot be an EP. An EP, short for extended play, was originally created to house a collection of songs greater than a single but lesser than a full-length LP (or long play). Depending on the era and the country of release, the definition of what constitutes an EP versus an LP has changed quite a bit over the past seven decades, but as recent as 2015, it was  broadly defined  as a collection of four records or less and approximately 25 minutes in length. Album versus EP, EP versus mixtape, for ...