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Posted on 05/07/2009 5:23:52 AM PDT by anniegetyourgun
Seattle public high schools this fall will use new math textbooks that have stirred controversy for their less-traditional teaching methods.
The Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors on Wednesday put an end to what have come to be known as the "math wars," approving a school district committee's recommendation for high school math textbooks in a 4-3 vote.
"We really see this as Step 1," said Anna-Maria de la Fuente, the district's K-12 mathematics coordinator. "The hard work is really coming."
(Excerpt) Read more at seattlepi.com ...
Key Curriculum materials are widely used by homeschoolers. It’s the only way any of my kids have learned fractions. Maybe this will prove to be a good idea for Seattle.
Modern educators.... the enemies of civilization.
It’s very important to the govt hat no one know the difference between a billion and a trillion. Just pay up, slave.
Seattle? Did they bother to check with Texas law and the Texas State Board of Education? Seattle?
I think it is a great way to learn math. I am unsure why you are against this.
The hard part is convincing the future employer that although junior can't perform he is still an asset because he like he is performing.
I hate this curriculum...my kids used it in a Georgia pilot program...the result...a summer spent teaching the kids real math...when we arrived in the Mid West...we needed tutors for the kids. The Mid West schools are excellent (blue state), the Georgia schools were awful (red state). I can’t figure out why this is true...but it is. I think part of it is the constant attempt to improve schools in Georgia leads to stupid programs that don’t work.
Direct instruction (similar to what we had in the 60’s before the libs took education over) is the most successful of all curricula in all subjects but is often rejected as being not creative enough...such nonsense. Creativity comes from a thorough knowledge of a subject and nothing else.
I taught math from Algebra I to Calculus in a number of High Schools. The first thing I did every year in Algebra was to give a test on the multiplication tables...a fair number of kids did not know them...thus the first weeks of Algebra were spent teaching this and other basics which are critical in higher math.
I think, like any curriculum, this will be great for some kids and not so much for others. Too bad we can't tailor education for individual learning styles.
Oh yeah, that's just awful!
My commentary isn’t on the curriculum per se, it’s the fact that government schools are government experiments. They have proven to fail. Good on homeschoolers who refuse to submit their children to the government schools.
Oh, I see! I agree with you!
It appears some posters find the Key Curriculum texts effective, and others don’t. This is, of course, what Real Life, as opposed to a government institution, is like! I haven’t tried them for high-school math, only for arithmetic and basic algebra.
The city picked the lowest rated textbook. It was also not recommended.
Are you implying that schools are bad because this is a “red” state (you are)
I think you need to take a course in logic!
“Key to” are good little sets for helping learn a certain kind of problem in mathematics http://www.keypress.com/x6469.xml
But the full curriculum....I have no idea.
Self appointed intellectuals often say that “War is too important to be left to the generals”. I say that EDUCATION is too important to be left to “EDUCATORS”.
For generations, American children were taught and educated so successfully that their country rose to heights unknown in history. Math, Geography, Literature, Science, Medicine.
People my age (74) were taught in such a way that 50 years out of school, we STILL knew what old fashioned teachers had pounded into our little heads. The key word is TEACHERS.
Now we have EDUCATORS, trying to justify their salaries by dreaming up new schemes that — surprise — don’t work.
We have students that can’t add, can’t find their country on a world map, can’t locate their home state on a globe, can’t spell, can’t write, yet are buttressed by a great supply of “self esteem”.
Last year, when I heard a “bright” 20 something young person express horror because the Russians had invaded Georgia and he was really concerned for the poor people in Atlanta, I saw finally where “education” was leading us.
It has always been said that these “graduates are our future”. Out future is screwed.
It is awful...most students can learn facts and processes. Few students have the ability to understand abstract math principles much less uncover such concepts themselves. It is appropriate at the high school level in upper math courses, but not in the lower grades. Many students will never understand the math concepts and will not have learned facts either. This program does not work.
Basically, an extremely good teacher stands in front of a room and explains the concepts, breaks down a few examples and shows students how to work through the problems. It's not rocket science. A series of lessons, based on a single mathematical approach, could take a child from basic arithmetic up through calculus. The child would never be faced with a teacher who tsks: "No, no, no! You don't do fractions that way! Who taught you that?? No wonder you're failing my class. Well, try to pick it up as we move along."
Now, since different people learn differently, there could be half a dozen different math series (all K-12), if your child is a visual learner, use series A, if your child likes inductive reasoning, use series B, if your child likes manipulative, use series C.
You went on vacation? You got sick? You missed that lesson, or you want to see it again? Not a problem -- the disk is in that cabinet: you can watch it any time, if you think it will help you.
How much would it cost to nationalize this curriculum and keep it in place for 30 years? Parents would say to kids: "Have you seen Mr. Smith work out the volume of a cylinder? Boy! My friends and I were on the floor with the joke he makes at the end! I still remember how to solve that problem just because he made me laugh. When you see it, let me know: it's great!"
Of course, nowadays, parents often have trouble helping kids with homework because -- apparently -- the facts of math have changed radically since the parent went to school.
Get a great teacher. Film great lessons. Maintain that curriculum for decades, making necessary changes as they are identified, but not altering any educational philosophy. Math skills would increase greatly, and the costs would be far less.
Human math teachers might still be employed in a school district (fewer though) if they seemed useful, but endless lecturing to classes of 30 bored kids would not be part of the job description.
It’s funny how educators jump on the newest, latest idea that is going to fix everything. When you pin them down (I have practice on this), they will admit that schooling was better 30 years ago, but refuse to re-institute the policies that made it that way. I think today’s system does benefit a few at the top, but most are left far behind. Maybe we should consider some discipline, some basic learning (memorization-— horrors!!), some repetition, and actual teaching of basic skills rather than sensitivity training, etc...
hh
Government Schools are not failed institutions. We have failed to recognize them as Political Indoctrination Centers. Our current state of government has proved that that part of the experiment is working in full force.
Liberalism is truly a sickness...
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