My other favorite type of book by this author...
Posted on 11/12/2009 10:45:24 AM PST by george76
More city kids are graduating from high school, but that doesn't mean they can do college math.
Basic algebra involving fractions and decimals stumped a group of City University of New York freshmen - suggesting city schools aren't preparing them...
"These results are shocking," ... "They show that a disturbing proportion of New York City high school graduates lack basic skills."
During their first math class at one of CUNY's four-year colleges, 90% of 200 students tested couldn't solve a simple algebra problem... Only a third could convert a fraction into a decimal.
The lack of math skills means the CUNY students - nearly 70% of which come from city schools - could struggle to keep up with peers, fail classes or even drop out...
John Jay College sophomore Ahmed Elshafaie, 19, who graduated from Long Island City High School, said he avoids math classes.
"I don't want to ruin my GPA," he said. "High school standards were really low."
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
YOU’VE Got it!
I took math in High School. I took it in college. I retained NONE of it.
Now my daughters are working with a great math curriculum but when they don’t understand something, I don’t have the skills to teach them. We had to wait until Dad got home.
However, someone gets it. Here is a program we just bought.
We bought the Algebra 1 for my daughter. Suddenly, when she gets something wrong, this program teaches her WHAT she got wrong. I found that my problem is, I could remember the formulas, but they were abstract to me. (i.e. “Why does x=6? Why not x=7”) With this, I’m actually understanding what she is doing, right or wrong.
She got a D on a unit test. We were going to redo the unit. We went to the program and started feeding in examples. By the fifth one, she got it.
When she retook the test, she aced it!
“... among the several States,”
and
“To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;”
In this case, the measure of an individual’s education when a person moves from one state to another.
Further, it would be is a “strings” clause. If you take the King’s coin you dance to the tune the King calls. If a state or school district does not like the rules, then don’t take the money.
If I remember right, Erin Gray the actress has a degree in Math. My sister can burn through calc and trig but algebra killed me. On the other hand, she would crash and burn in accounting every time where I would get it right.
Yeah, my mom taught me to read using phonics, and math using Saxon. Despite her obvious lack of training in edu-ma-cation, I managed *not* to have to take remedial math in college.
I had an accounting teacher that was an experienced accountant that worked at a big firm in the city say in class that as long as you are close, it is OK. I would like to see that mentality fly at any accounting firm from bookkeeper on up.
My other favorite type of book by this author...
What is the problem with math teaching? I was terrible at math. I grew up in NYC and went to an elite public high school and then to CCNY before open admissions - but I was still terrible at advanced math and couldn’t get through calculus, although I had been good in algebra.
Then when I was in my 20s, I took a class on teaching math to children. Somehow, everything opened up at that moment. The professor (who was teaching teachers) was Montessori-trained, if that gives you a hint.
There’s something wrong about the way the subject is taught in the US.
The math in our schools is called “Investigations”. My wife goes in as a volunteer and drills the kids on basic math “facts”. Otherwise they wouldn’t get them.
She also bought a book for our 6th grade girl. “Math Doesn’t Suck”, written by the actress that played “Winnie” on the wonder years. She quit acting for 4 years and went to Stanford or some place and majored in math with straight A’s or something (When she went in, she was terrible at math!) It has seemed to help explain some of the concepts in a way she can understand it.
I can’t believe he said that. Not only that, but at least when I went to high school, Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II/Trig were required by the state to get a HS diploma. I find it hard to believe that’s the case in NY.
I only wish Algebra II and Trig were taught as separate courses. I’ve heard that they used to be in some schools.
LOL!
My sixth grade girls are doing the fraction/decimal thing right now. The one thing that bothers me is when they say “write .14 as a percentage”. I know what they are getting at, but they make it sound like ANY number with a decimal point (so - I guess that is ALL numbers) can be written as a percentage. But all numbers aren’t percentages - most times they are just numbers.
What I find interesting is how our brains work. To me, I look at the various problems as the same problem:
write 1/4 as a percentage.
write 2/3 as a decimal
write .75 as a fraction
They give all of these in the worksheet with 6 or 7 of each type. My daughter looks at each type as a completely different type of problem. And of course I get frustrated “It’s just like all the other ones!” Of course it isn’t to her (yet), which is why the sheet has the variety of problems.
Everytime I go for the teacher’s meetings I tell them “With all the work my kids need to do, how can so many kids not be learning? My kids do WAY more homework and learning than I ever did in grade school!”
With ideas like the ones you have put forth, I am beginning to understand why the Democrats have such a firm grip on Congress.
Thanks for the link!
I was amazed how much fluff there was in HS Math text books. It all diverts from learning math. It is more about experiencing math than learning it.
“Go with three of your friends to the store and ech buy a small bag of M&M’s. Count how many are in each bag. Compute the average count of the bags. Discuss with our frieds how you feel if your bag was below the average. Bla...Bla...Bla...
It’s an amazing program!
I always thought that figgerin' w/ numbers was arithmetic.
Figgerin' w/ letters was math...
the sarcasm.
Yes it is easy to see why the Dems are in power. All you have to do is look at the reaction to idea that would roll back the bureaucracy of the Department of Education. Dems just don’t like smaller / limited government and will ridicule any attempt or even the mere suggestion that their precious government departments be trimmed.
Cure: Charter school, school choice, vouchers, rigorous standards.
Disease: Teachers unions, Federal mandates, bilingual education, Dewey’s legacy of ‘education is social’, low standards, liberal indoctrination, etc.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OGVjY2Y0ZGUyOTA5YWYzNjFlZTk0MzI2OTk2ZDA1MWM=&w=MQ==
She’s more right than wrong - our kids got into fractions and decimals in 3rd grade and they should be completely competent at that by 6th grade.
When I was a kid, numbers didn't go that high ;^)
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