Posted on 04/20/2012 4:27:02 PM PDT by BruceDeitrickPrice
Here’s some good news. M. J. McDermott’s wonderful video about why Americans don’t know math has exceeded 1,000,000 views.
This is one of the best videos about education on the web. If you haven’t viewed it, please do. Running time is about 15 minutes.
In this video, McDermott explains the flaws in so-called Reform Math, which was introduced to the country around 1985. Reform Math actually consists of more than a dozen separate but basically identical curricula. As fast as a community figures out that one of these things is bad, the so-called experts introduce another. These experts are diabolically clever.
Point is, there are good ways to teach any subject. And there are awkward, incoherent, inefficient ways to teach any subject. Reform Math incorporates all the bad ways to teach math. The predictable result is that few American children become good at math (which in turn undercuts science).
I had noticed the same inefficiency in the field of reading. The McDermott video confirmed for me that this tendency could be found all across the educational spectrum. The closer you look at any of the popular educational fads, the more you’re likely to notice that the foolish thing doesn’t work at all as claimed; in fact, it’s probably counterproductive. Here I’m thinking of Whole Word, Constructivism, Self-esteem, Cooperative Learning, Multiculturalism, Learning Styles, Prior Knowledge, and many more.
I’m afraid the Education Establishment is going to repackage all the bad ideas in Reform Math under the name Common Core Curriculum.
(My article “36: The Assault on Math” discusses parallels between math and reading. http://www.improve-education.org/id60.html )
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My cousin is a newly-minted middle school teacher “back East”. He’s in his second year of teaching after working for and being RIF’ed from Ford about 8 years ago. He was an engineer.
He teaches 7th grade. He told me the other day that over 60% of his students have no concept whatsoever of how to use a ruler to measure something.
I think that is the new format. I did it under the older format of just Math and English, but I got a 680.
I did a lot of homeschooling and not just my own kids. I realized around 1986 or a bit later when trying to teach some girls around 7th or 8th grade level math that the books purposely were twisting it so the kids could not possibly learn it. I was amazed; it was clear it was being mis-taught on purpose.
How many would admit the following:
” I graduated before this new Whole Word Reading came in and I still can't read”!
Hm?...How many would admit to the above? None? Why is it that people are not the least bit embarrassed about a mathematics deficiency?
Sure. Democracy, Republic. WTF.
ML/NJ
Same here I couldn’t do an algebra equation in the past and I have a degree. I finally decided to do something about it and at age 53 I’m taking elementary algebra at my local community college. We are almost finished for the semester, a few classes and the final and that’s it.
My class started with 28 students all ages. We are down to 12 and I know that 3 maybe 4 will fail unless they get scores in the 90s on the final. My best guess is 7 will complete the class with a passing grade.
The instructor is “old school” we are not allowed to use calculators at all. He will say, and this is true that we are doing high school level work and that he wants us to understand fully what we are doing.
For me, I’m a self professed “math retard” but I’m happy to say that I’m in solid B territory and expecting to move on to intermediate algebra in the summer session then college algebra in the fall. I don’t blame anyone but myself for my lack of math skills and I intend to learn this subject at all costs.
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Did you happen to catch the grade level DA!
I, too, am a 7th grade Math teacher. I “inherit” students EVERY YEAR who do NOT know the multiplication facts and cannot add/subtract/multiply/divide whole numbers and decimals and do NOT know anything about fractions!! AND, they cannot THINK!! There is NO “number sense”! Yet, I am required by the “course of study” to teach curricula FAR BEYOND their capability... To say the least, I find this situation discouraging. However, I DO THE BEST I CAN. Would these students would accept personal responsibility AND DO THE WORK ASSIGNED THEM... But, oh no, parents assert “IT IS MY FAULT”. I am called a “liar” because “little Johnny” told his parents he did turn in his late work (the second and even third copy) to me (HE DID NOT), and although I offered other opportunities out of regular class time for extra help, HE NEVER SHOWED UP...
These children are a product of our “entitlement” society -YOU OWE ME...
What a messed-up U.S. of A. we have allowed to be created...
A few years ago I saw one of my friends kids doing the lattice method from Everyday Math. The first thing I said was that it looked like the old Napier's bones method of multiplication.
Everyday Math just seems to hang onto inefficient methods instead of using them as a stepping stone to the efficient ways of solving larger problems. Terc on the other hand looks like a nightmare meant to keep kids from learning and understanding.
I believe that textbook manufacturers and authors must shuffle the teaching method to promote new sales of books. How much have math arithmetic and introductory reading actually changed in the past two centuries? You can't have schools thinking they can just order a new set of the previous books when the old ones wear out.< /s>
PS as a smart ass I would give one answer the Terc problem of showing two ways of solving 36 ÷ 6 = ? as
10log(36) - log(6) = 6.
This video is very true - math instruction, especially at the elementary level, is horrible. “Reform Math” basically teaches kids to stack and sort blocks but expressly excludes teaching them any arithmetic - the ones the are mathematically inclined eventually figure things out for themselves but most kids are left with no skill at arithmetic and a pure hatred of the subject. They are not ready to move to algebra in middle school because they don’t have the basics down. Those that can afford it send their kids to private school or to Sylvan or Huntingdon (or homeschool), but the kids left in public schools without private tutoring are mostly not ready for college level courses in math, science or engineering. They probably make good “community organizers” though......it’s almost as if there was a plot to disable America’s technical excellence.
I think it’s become worse since then, but it was never anything to brag about. Even during the 1950’s, people were voicing concerns about the low qulity of public education. The book “Why Johnny Can’t Read” was published in 1955.
Congratulations!
Arithmetic is a part of Mathematics. How is talking about arithmetic NOT talking about Mathematics.
It's like saying talking about derivatives is NOT talking about Calculus.
You’re right, there’s something about deficiency in Math that people aren’t afraid to admit to. One possible reason could be that people don’t need to do Algebra on a daily basis, while reading is essential for everyday life.
Good for you, I would also check out Khanacademy online. You can test yourself on Math equations. This assumes, of course, that you don’t need credits in Math.
I was circulating the link when the video had fewer than 50k views....
“I’m afraid the Education Establishment is going to repackage all the bad ideas in Reform Math under the name Common Core Curriculum.”
Of course they will. They did the same thing with whole language. In this case, the teachers who teach math don’t know any more about math than I know about origami. They couldn’t teach Saxon or Singapore math if their lives depended on it. You can’t improve math education in government schools without firing the existing teachers and hiring hundreds of thousands of new, competent math teachers who don’t exist.
If you want to see what is expected in Japan, take a look at the factorization problems in Kumon Level J 55-60.
What you write is often very perceptive and helpful, but when are you going to stop with the school reform nonsense?
Yes. I discovered this when tutoring an 8th grader. It wasn't just clumsy - it was diabolically designed to utterly confuse and deny understanding. Whoever the people are who created it, bought it and administer it, are evil.
RE: “He teaches 7th grade. He told me the other day that over 60% of his students have no concept whatsoever of how to use a ruler to measure something.”
Thanks for this wonderful comment. Says everything.
You simply cannot have this low level of education unless the people in charge are deliberately, carefully, methodically aiming for dumb and dumber.
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