School math books, nonsense, and the National Science Foundation

csun ^ | Sunday, November 12, 2006 | David Klein

[spinestein]

I'll go on record as agreeing that math is being poorly taught in public schools and that a student is lucky to have a year with a good teacher and a good math textbook.

I've had the unfortunate experience of having to tutor my daughter in math every year since the 2nd grade to supplement the mostly useless nonsense that passes for math instruction in the public school.

It's the same this year as she's learning pre-algebra in 8th grade and the teacher seems to be fairly intelligent but the book they're using is a hopelessly confusing pile of crap. The authors insist on teaching several types of conceptually based problem solving methods simultaneously and letting the students explore for themselves which method they like best. THIS IS STUPIDITY if you're trying to teach how to solve math problems. I've made it through calculus and I can't make any sense of some of my daughter's homework and I've had to write several notes to her teacher saying that I didn't know how to help with the homework assignment as instructed but that I taught her how to solve the problems correctly by the method I was familiar with.

Her science books have not been much better and I don't see how even a good teacher can be expected to get good results using crap books.

[AmishDude]

Idiocy. But mathematicians are happy to get anything from the NSF, which is much more interested in sinking money into the pit of the various forms of snake oil research.

If you want to improve education, make sure you have nothing to do any University departments of education.

Especially in mathematics. We know what mathematics is. Most math teachers couldn't get a Bachelor's of Science in mathematics.

[AmishDude]

What kind of mathematics?

[AmishDude]

I have a better one for you. I am teaching calculus and at a review session somebody asked me a question that required them to divide, say, x^3-3x^2+2x-10 by x-2 and get a quadratic polynomial plus a leftover term.

I said that they learned it in 4th grade and proceeded to do long division of polynomials.

It was as if I wrote Greek on the board. Not only had they not learned this in high school (and many claim to have had "calculus" in high school) they couldn't even understand that is the same thing. It wasn't "long division" as they knew it because it had variables.

There's no teaching of the basics nor is there any creativity. It's the worst of both worlds.

[NinoFan]

"Oh, Saxon Math doesn't have any typographic errors at all, does it?"

That was NOT a typographical error. It was an error of ignorance. There is a major difference.

[NinoFan]

And yes, I realize that people should not rely on the answer sections anyway, but an error of ignorance makes me question the system a lot more than a simple typo does.

[NinoFan]

Somewhat unrelated question: What text were you using?

[aruanan]

So...Parents...homeschool, privately school, or be prepared to pay big bucks to the Sylvan Centers or for Kumon.

Kumon is MUCH less than Sylvan and, I think, a lot better. I have three in it now for over 14 months and we'll be starting the 3-year-old soon. It's made a huge difference. It starts the children at the level that they're really at and then relies on repetition and gradually increasing difficulty to move them forward. The 4th grader went from barely being able count on his fingers at the beginning of the year to sailing through 100 problems correctly in 4 minutes on a timed evaluation (usual time 6-10 minutes). In one year his reading went from kindergarten to fairly fluent. I think he's probably still about two years behind but at this rate he'll catch up soon. Two years ago they barely spoke English, only French, Kran, and a patois form of English. Now they're all pretty fluent. It's just a matter of not letting the public schools screw them up along the way.

[AmishDude]

We use Varberg, but that's really just a topic outline for me.

The new books come with these interactive problem-solving programs that you can use online. They're useful for me. Students can get individual help even in a huge lecture class (which I have two of now).

[dr_lew]

Another scenario had this lattice work looking grid but I couldn't even figure that one out!

I think this refers to Pick's Theorem.

For some reason this has become a fixture of elementary math education. I guess because it's fun and unexpected, which makes it suitable for the popular exploration style lesson plans, as here.

There's nothing particularly wrong with it, but it does seem like a confusing approach to simple area concepts. It's simple, but why is it true? Note the lesson plan doesn't address this, and expects students to accept it because it seems to work. The proof requires a fair degree of sophistication.

Perhaps it's not going too far to see an insidious purpose behind it, namely mystification. You rejected it because you "couldn't figure it out", but the children are being taught that they should not expect to understand how or why it works, and that is math.

[spunkets]

"Looks more like a specific case of x=12.5. That would be a line parallel to the Y axis."

You're right. The mathbook is wrong and goofy. The slope is infinite and the y intercept doesn't exist.

[Cobra64]

Thank you for sharing your gracious and humble comments.

[dr_who_2]

For a parent of such gifted offspring and all that, your arguments seem to be either half baked or just non existent.

[ryan125]

My last math book was horrid...never in my life had i seen so little math and so many pictures of black kids in wheel chairs.

[wintertime]

My last math book was horrid...never in my life had i seen so little math and so many pictures of black kids in wheel chairs.
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I am laughing and laughing. My kids were homeschooled, and they are adults now, but even when they were school age there were PC illustrations.

Once my little daughter complained about the library books. She was a cute, little, blonde-haired, blue-eyed. doll baby, and said, "Why doesn't anyone ever look like me?"

[wintertime]

Her science books have not been much better and I don't see how even a good teacher can be expected to get good results using crap books. ( Spinestiein)
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So...it seems a number of parents on this thread are putting a lot of effort into teaching children themselves after school, or sending them to tutoring.

I love that term "afterschooling" that one of the posters used.

So....who takes credit for the good standardizing testing sores in the "blue ribbon" government schools? Well..the government schools do, of course! Yet, obviously it is not the methods of teaching that the government schools that accounts for the success of these schools.

Obviously, the real teaching methods in these "blue ribbon" government families that are responsible for the true success of these students is being either deliberately ignored, or ignored because so-called "professional" educators are too stupid to know where to look.

The irony is that the same so-called "professional" educator who take full credit for the success of the blue ribbon school, will blame the families of the failing schools.

Honestly, it is impossible for any parent to bring about enough "reform", in any government school to be of any benefit to their child. They **must** be very distrustful of any government school's high standardized test scores, because these scores are likely due to the parents' "afterschooling". If they are going to save their child's life they really **must** take charge of their education.

Solution: homeschool, private school, or lots of "afterschooling" in the form of personal teaching or tutoring.

[wintertime]

Would be nice, in a perfect world, but not all School Departments are amenable to change. ( SuzieQ)
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Air Force Brat,

What can any one parent do in time to save their child's life?

Should they petition the school board that is filled with teachers and/or NEA backed members?

Should they petition the principal who has a guarantee salary and is completely insulated from free market competition?

Should they run for the school board and attempt to win against the money-backed NEA candidates.

Hey..maybe they should try to oust some of the tenured university professors that are graduating these so-called "professional" educators?

Oh,,,I know..the beleaguered parent should run petition their legislators who are on their knees to the NEA.

Maybe they should try to run for legislature themselves against NEA backed candidates with their NEA money bags.

Solutions:

Air Force Brat,,,,there is only ONE solution. That parent must take charge.

For the poor, they must organize among themselves and their churches, to bring in tutors who will save their children with lots of "afterschool" tutoring. Perhaps it will dawn on the ministers of those inner city and poor rural churches that the government school is not there to help them. They MUST open their own church-based schools, and there are Americans who are generous enough and distressed enough that they will be charitable enough to keep these schools going.

[Kylie_04]

Ping ~ you might be interested in some of this. ;)

[Air Force Brat]

Perhaps to you.

Since you apparently believe both wintertime and I have gifted children, can I interest you in an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of an exciting new investment product? ;-)

[Air Force Brat]

The parent must always take charge. I don't think anyone is debating that. But I'm taking a broader view - not as an individual but as a matter of public policy.

Public schools have given opportunity and education to millions of Americans who would not otherwise have it. If one likes the prospect of an ignorant, ill-educated and only marginally employable public, keep starving the public schools. You'll get exactly what you want.

I recognize this is unpopular among the church school and home school types, but I personally believe public education is one of the building blocks that made our nation great. I am a product of military elementary schools and public high schools and universities. Public schools have served me well and they have served my children well. I believe each American should have a similar opportunity.