Posted on 03/31/2008 6:59:33 AM PDT by too much time
Take a minute to think about the following: When was the last time you made a mathematical calculation in your head or by hand (yes which means not using a calculator)? Surely, some of you avoid math like the plague – especially when your teenage child comes around looking for help on their math homework – but you must admit that even in this compalculator era it comes in handy to be able to tally your bills in your head or figure out the miles per gallon you’re getting while driving along in traffic.
Surely it seems reasonable to expect that people with high school diplomas and college degrees shouldn’t be afraid of a little algebra. We all took math in school, and although most of us struggled with the subject, and many of us hated every second of it, we did it and we got by. We got by, and it has helped us in some way or another while at college, work, or home. But if you thought math was hard for you, consider how hard your kids have it.
It shouldn’t be hard to understand why most American teenagers struggle with math and other basic subjects like science and English. Schools are overcrowded and rundown, teachers are underpaid and......
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
Fascist! ;)
I hate to tell you how many college students do not understand decimals. I was shocked to learn that they do not know which is larger, .01 or .019.
They will guess and then say everything works backwards to the right of the decimal.
Doesn't everyone do this?
Language is all abstracted symbols, but the manipulations on language elements are loosely ruled. And language is learned so early that the child is not conscious of the abstracted nature of it. Thus language and problem solving using language only give a vague hint of how to do math.
However learning rote how to count, how to add numbers from 1-100, how to subtract same, memorizing times table, learning long division, learning fractions and reduction of fractions -- these give the prerequisite confidence needed to play the mind games of explorations in math, logic and algebras.
The discover it yourself approaches are like throwing a three year old in a ten foot deep pool and saying "Swim", or like making the first driving lesson for a 16 year old pulling unto a freeway at rush hour, at twilight in the rain. Predictable disasters!
Language is all abstracted symbols, but the manipulations on language elements are loosely ruled. And language is learned so early that the child is not conscious of the abstracted nature of it. Thus language and problem solving using language only give a vague hint of how to do math.
However learning rote how to count, how to add numbers from 1-100, how to subtract same, memorizing times table, learning long division, learning fractions and reduction of fractions -- these give the prerequisite confidence needed to play the mind games of explorations in math, logic and algebras.
The discover it yourself approaches are like throwing a three year old in a ten foot deep pool and saying "Swim", or like making the first driving lesson for a 16 year old pulling unto a freeway at rush hour, at twilight in the rain. Predictable disasters!
Do you really think that with the brain that either evolution handed down, or God bestowed upon us, we are incapable of learning science and math if we put our mind to it? Absolutely not! We can all learn everything taught in school, it merely requires effort, determination, and perseverance.
Amen! I wanted to repeat it for the Bell Curve crowd here.
Our sons are homeschooled. Science is no problem for them, though they do have to explain it to me. ;-) But math: #1 is a math whiz, and #3 is quickly becoming one. But I thought #2 would never learn it, even though I spent more time with him than the other two. We'd kept him out of school because we feared he would be labeled, and I was beginning to think maybe he really can't do math. Maybe there's something wrong. He was doing math a year behind schedule and struggling even with that...
...until a month ago, when one day he commented out of the blue, "I'll never get into college." (Note: He's 10.) LOL. ;-) Immediately, he set himself to the task, and he progressed very quickly. To my amazement, within a month, he has caught up to grade level, and now math is his favorite subject. He's so proud of himself. :-)
No one can make someone learn anything. That someone has to want to do it.
Maybe the students could create/discover their own music scale, rather than using the old one. Or maybe they could create/discover their own alphabet -rather than use the centuries-old one.
Liberal-arts-minded people came up with "reform math" and have created new words for math concepts-- they would never tamper with the parts of academia that they understand. (music, reading, etc).
Nor would they ever admit that some people might actually be naturally better at math and actually enjoy real math. The old way. The real way. And without having to work in a group to take a test. YES - my children take "GROUP TESTS" IN MATH!!!! Education of the masses in a dumbed down society.
You may regret pinging me to this article--so many comments, so little space. LOL
Hobbit Lass got her driver's license yesterday. The lass's birthday present got 18.5 mpg on her spiring break overnighter (with Mom chaperoning, of course).
Hobbit Lass has had excellent math teachers. She complains and moans about the amount of homework she gets, but we just laugh at her when she complains. With one exception, her English teachers have been pitiful. A community joke is the night I had a hissy fit in the stand because the cheerleaders were misspelling a cheer. The coach was the English teacher. I am afraid her current English teacher makes that one look like a gem.
I would argue that the ability to construct a coherent sentence is essential for success in life. I would also argue that mathematics is a language, not a science. In fact, it is the language of science.
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