Posted on 02/09/2007 7:01:09 PM PST by mathprof
W. Stephen Wilson teaches mathematics at Mayor Bloomberg 's alma mater, Johns Hopkins University. Last fall he conducted an experiment on the students in his Calculus I course.
Professor Wilson administered the same final exam to last fall's students that he used for the same course in the fall of 1989. He chose that year because he was able to obtain data for both his exam and the SAT math scores for both cohorts of students.
The surprise: the 1989 students did much better than their 2006 counterparts.
Everyday much ink is spilled discussing the failure of America's schools. Most of this discussion centers on the children who never learn basic skills, those who never graduate high school. But the crisis goes much deeper.
By the conventional analysis, the students at Johns Hopkins represent success. All graduated high school and did so well that they were able to win admission to a prestigious institution of higher learning. Since 1989, with the help of Mr. Bloomberg's generosity, Johns Hopkins became a more selective college. In 1989, 49% of applicants were offered admission, today only 27%. The number of applicants has also increased — by 148%. These figures would suggest that Professor Wilson's calculus students would be doing better, not worse. So what has changed?
Some years back, the reporting of the results of the common standardized tests was altered, not to show the average achievement of students in a school or a district, but to determine the percentage achieving or exceeding something called "grade level," a measure of minimal competence. By this gauge, the child who is barely getting by, meeting this minimal standard counts equally with the super-star prodigy pondering quantum physics.
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
People who want separation of schools from the government need to recognize that far more than K-12 schools use government dollars. The public universities and community colleges take quite a bite of the apple also.
On your other subject of charity - Why, in your opinion, would businesses and individuals donate to charitable institutions to pay for education of the poor?
Woah, I'm digesting that one.
I did a similar experiment in 1982, except it was with an final exam in Algebra II I gave in 1967 to a 1982 calculus class as a first exam. Every kid in the calculus class had an "A" average in his/her math classes. of the 16 kids in the calculus class, two got "A"'s; none of the others got above a "C" and about half failed.
One only has to look at high school textbooks from the 1960s and compare them with those with today's book to see that much of the content has been removed. But I must say this has been a continuous thing. A second year algebra book published in the 1930s had much higher content that one of the 1950s.
The math textbooks may be the worst aspect of the schools. One Freeper told me it's as if they're confusing on purpose. And it did seem that way to me.
Don't know. The '60s geometry textbooks were strong on logic. They still have some of it, because I wonder if the teachers are even aware of it. A few years ago, I was a substitute and taught a section which dealt with logical principles. I was just explaining the text, but the kids acted as though I were trying them to teach Greek. I think they were learning to do proofs by rote.
I sometimes wonder if the "plot theorists" were right when suggesting that Communists were implementing their strategy of dismantling democracy from within. You know, corrupt and destroy the youth, thus the future of the state, etc., etc. Nothing would surprise me less than some investigator proving that they had actually done it! :))
When I was teaching, it was a big problem to stop children talking, to make them remove their hats, to make them stand, etc.,etc., just to listen to the national anthem.
When I reprimanded one for not showing respect for at least the soldiers who were dying every week, he said, "What war?"
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