Why Dick and Jane Can't Divide: The Video

YouTube | January 15, 2007 | M.J. McDermott

[achilles2000]

Don't give your children to the government's schools or any private school that doesn't use Saxon, Singapore, or something equivalent. Problem solved...

[achilles2000]

The interesting point that most people don't understand is that the good teachers have to sneak in competent instruction and sound curriculum.

[Half Vast Conspiracy]

It is amazing to me that there are folks on you tube defending this.

What a great video. I was tickled when she mentioned using logic though (taught when you do math) being a key to computer programing. I remember in college that lots of students thought they should "be in computers" because they liked to play video games. But, they couldn't even handle the logic required to do a simple Basic program.

[achilles2000]

They are defending it because they have been marinated in a government school culture that leads people to see this kind of educational travesty as normal - as just another strand in our colorful, diverse tapestry of learning strategies. In other words, they have been trained up to be fools, and there are more of them every year the government schools are operating.

We need to wean ourselves from Aid to Dependent Parents - i.e. go cold turkey off of government educational welfare.

[metmom]

No, I missed the whole point. They did the whole sin=o/h, cos= a/h, thing but I didn't realize that it was simply a ratio and the ratio could give you the angle. Maybe they made it too complicated. Whatever, that was long ago and I have since learned it and was able to teach my kids, who are now waaaayyy ahead of where I was in math at the same age.

[Poser]

I blame whoever passes children who can't multiply and divide beyond the fifth grade.

[achilles2000]

Bump - especially for those who think that the WaPo article by Farhi is anything but nonsense.

[wintertime]

I blame whoever passes children who can't multiply and divide beyond the fifth grade.(poser)

Bump - especially for those who think that the WaPo article by Farhi is anything but nonsense.(achilles2000)
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Yes...It is past time that we blamed teachers and principals! If the educational program chosen stinks then they should refuse to work with it.

If a child is promoted to the 9th grade and can't read or add and subtract, then every teacher and principal who allowed this to happen, and passed that child from grade to grade, should have his license revoked, and should be personally sued for malpractice.

This does not mean that a teacher or principal can force an unwilling student to learn, but, in no way, should that child be in the 9th grade. That child should still in the second grade.

If teachers, (like other professionals), were under the threat of losing their licenses and personal malpractice suits, we would see better and more accountable teaching methods, and more responsible practices for passing a child from grade to grade.

I say, YES! Blame the teachers!

[SoftballMominVA]

This is insane! Thank you for posting this, I will be looking into whether our district uses this method in the lower grades. If it is taught in our school, I need to keep my LD kids away from it.

The teaching of this method certainly could explain why there is a huge influx nationwide of kids with learning disabilities in math. I just did an IEP for a child from California - an 8th grader - who still has not mastered 4 function math. In fact, she was taught to add and subtract by going LEFT TO RIGHT!

We have seen a decrease in reading disabilities, now that we have worked through the whole language nonsense and schools are going back to phonics.

Again, thanks, I will look into this this week.

[SoftballMominVA]

Thanks

So because I am a public school teacher I am

A: Stupid

B: Greedy

or

C: Evil

You continued use of hyperbole mixed with fuzzy logic brings a smile to my face every day.

[Dolphy]

-mark for later-

[TC Rider]

Back in '84, I was selling Apple IIs to local schools. I went out to an elementary school to do a demonstration. I loaded a popular math drill program and took the k-5 teachers through what the students would see.

I did a couple of addition and subtraction drills, asking the teachers for the correct responses.

I moved on to multiplication and division. I asked a young teacher for the first part of the answer to a long division problem and she nearly cried, "I can't do long division, I'm just a kindergarten teacher."

That day was quite an education for me. Obviously, by today's education standards, one only needs a K education to teach kindergarten.

[Amelia]

So...It is time that we blamed the teachers! If they were true professionals they should KNOW that their methods are hurting children. If they don't know this, they SHOULD!

If they're too stupid to learn or teach math, what makes you think they're smart enough to figure out anything else?

FWIW, however, I took a "Teaching Math in the Elementary Schools" course about 30 years ago - and some of the teachers in that class absolutely could not do 5th and 6th grade math.

[wintertime]

If they're too stupid to learn or teach math, what makes you think they're smart enough to figure out anything else?

FWIW, however, I took a "Teaching Math in the Elementary Schools" course about 30 years ago - and some of the teachers in that class absolutely could not do 5th and 6th grade math.
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Amelia,
It seems to me, that the teachers you are referring to fall into the stupid category.

If teachers cooperate with a system that hurts children then they are:

1) Too stupid, or poorly educated themselves, to know they are cooperating with a system that hurts children. ( The teachers too stupid to do 5th grade math)

2) They DO know the methods employed by their schools hurt child, but they cooperate anyway just to collect a paycheck. These teachers and principals are greedy.

3) They DO know that the methods employed by their schools hurt children, but enjoy leaving children emotionally and educationally injured. These teachers are evil.

[Amelia]

So into which category would you place SoftballMom & me?

[achilles2000]

My friends who are in state-wide positions in education tell me that reform math is used in the overwhelming majority of schools around the country. We are now into the second generation with reform math, which is why the teachers typically don't understand that there is a problem and would have to relearn their math to teach correctly. It can't be fixed. In the meantime, the older competent math teachers are being silenced by forcing them into "growth plans" if they point out the obvious - namely, that the curricula are a disaster.

[for those not in education, a "growth plan" in this case amounts to taking a competent math teacher and forcing him or her to spend some quantity time listening to a lank-haired, slack-jawed, mouth breathing math education major prattle on about "strategies". The purpose is not merely to silence the competent, but to drive them out because they are not "team players"].

[SoftballMominVA]

Ah Winter, you are the gift that keeps on giving

It's a good thing I don't take what you say personally, or I'd have to kill myself based on your opinion of me.

Let's recap

Teachers are evil, dumb, stupid, greedy, and liars. We are too dumb to learn math, much less teach it. We emotionally and sexually brutalized kids daily, and should be rounded up and sent to concentration camps. We have no integrity, and in fact if we had any chance of integrity, we should quit our jobs and work at McDonalds, because as everyone knows that is the place with the highest amount of integrity around. Anyone who is stupid enough to send their child to public school is the same as feeding them poison.

It's a great day when I get to interact with you and your higher level of thinking.

Excuse me whilst I go bone up on my torture for tomorrow. I thought I would open class with a story from Bennett's Big Book of Virtues, hand out vocabulary stem words (we are studying "circum" this week), review literary terms for the upcoming standards of learning exam, and then close with a short comprehension selection. Evil incarnate, that's me!

[SoftballMominVA]

I have some hope though achilles. As a country we did work through the silliness of Whole Language and are now back on track with the teaching of reading. Teachers saw that the Whole Language approach just didn't work and went back to something that did. The term normally used is not phonics though, it's developmental reading. That phrase is used so as to not scare those who remember phonics as this dry episode of "C- k k k cat - C" Developmental reading has a strong phonics based combined with the best aspects of Whole Language - reading aloud is a good thing as it imprints the rhythm, syntax, cadences, and beauty of the language onto a child. The problem with WL is that is ALL teachers wanted to do - sit and read. Just didn't work

So maybe, just maybe the math program will take a similiar step and go back to what works.

[achilles2000]

The reading situation is far from fixed. In most districts that have shifted from whole language the approach is referred to as "balanced". A national reading teacher of the year described it to me as whole language in drag. Just some phonics fluff to shut up parents and other critics. There is obviously some variation among schools and districts, but the overall situation is disastrously bad. Bad pedagogy from the ed schools never seems to die - it just has its name and shape changed a bit.

[SoftballMominVA]

whole language in drag, I like that turn of phrase.

You are right, the situation is not fixed, but I'm an optimist. The good news is that several major universities have their education departments behind developmental reading and are turning out grads able to teach it well. University of Virginia, University of NC, University of Tennessee, Vanderbilt, University of Oregon are all proponents, with UVA leading the pack.

In fact, I would say without question that UVA has more influence over early reading instruction than any other force, including the Federal government, the NEA, or any other faction. UVA developed the PALS system of assessment and instruction and all schools in VA have the resources provided free from UVA to assess, track, and teach early reading. (testing materials do cost $$, the database of teaching strategies is open for all to use) Every school district in Virginia uses it (private, Christian and home schools are also welcome to use the materials and can get the testing information upon request) Well over 10,000 teachers are involved. If you are interested in the philosophy, the teaching materials, methods, or general information have a look at http://pals.virginia.edu/.

I forget that my corner of the world is not universal. I see it getting better here and project that out too far. My apologies if I over spoke.