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Keyword: voodoomathematics

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  • Ethnomathematics - Even math education is being politicized.

    06/26/2005 6:42:49 AM PDT · by grundle · 76 replies · 1,561+ views
    opinionjournal.com ^ | June 26, 2005 | DIANE RAVITCH
    In the early 1990s, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics issued standards that disparaged basic skills like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, since all of these could be easily performed on a calculator. In a comparison of a 1973 algebra textbook and a 1998 "contemporary mathematics" textbook, Williamson Evers and Paul Clopton found a dramatic change in topics. In the 1973 book, for example, the index for the letter "F" included factors, factoring, fallacies, finite decimal, finite set, formulas, fractions and functions. In the 1998 book, the index listed families (in poverty data), fast food nutrition data, fat in...
  • WSJ: Ethnomathematics - The fusion of political correctness and relevance in Mathematics

    06/20/2005 5:43:30 AM PDT · by OESY · 17 replies · 2,552+ views
    Wall Street Journal ^ | June 20, 2005 | DIANE RAVITCH
    It seems our math educators no longer believe in the beauty and power of the principles of mathematics. They are continually in search of a fix that will make it easy, relevant, fun, and even politically relevant. In the early 1990s, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics issued standards that disparaged basic skills like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, since all of these could be easily performed on a calculator. The council preferred real life problem solving, using everyday situations. Attempts to solve problems without basic skills caused some critics, especially professional mathematicians, to deride the "new, new math"...