Evaluate the argument below using each rule from Chapter $1($Rules $1$ thru $6).$ Write your answer in paragraph form, and list the rules applied in parentheses.

A recent columnist suggested that high schools should skip the $$hard$$ math because most people will never use it$.$ This is as absurd as suggesting that schools shouldn$$t bother to teach students advanced vocabulary since most people will never use it$.$ Innumeracy is a public scourge, leading to all kinds of misunderstandings about things that are vital to good public policy. The strength of our democracy itself rests in the hands of those very teachers whom you columnists would seek to cast aside for wasting our children$$s time $.$ We need to teach math $--$ even the $$hard$$ stuff $--$ to every single student.

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