Posted on 04/07/2007 7:56:22 PM PDT by socrates_shoe
What is scary is what Klein wrote here:
During the previous decade, the goal for students to achieve fluency in algebra and arithmetic was often derided by educators as “mindless symbol manipulation” or “drill and kill.” This point of view guided the creation of math textbooks. The resulting radical deemphasis of algebra and arithmetic—the prerequisite to algebra—in NSF-funded and NSF-distributed math programs has stark consequences for science education, especially physics. When the isolation of a variable in a simple equation is laborious for students rather than automatic, the depth of instruction in high school physics courses is severely limited. At the university level, students struggling with elementary algebra find themselves adrift in their calculus classes, and success thereafter in physics courses is elusive.
(Excerpt) Read more at physicsforums.com ...
The better I understand the public school system, the better I understand the reasons to homeschool.
“Public education” is a contradiction in terms, for “public” includes the ineducables. Do not cast pearls unto swine.
Why would even the most mindlessly PC educrat push “ineducables” through algebra?
Let them consider “literate” as being able to spell their name and read “See Johnny Run”. Let them dumb down elementary arithmetic so that being able to see that 5 is more than 2 is a “pass”. But leave the advanced track alone, fergoodnessake.
And he could not answer.
But the only way to know it, is to memorize it. And the only way to memorize it is through drill.
And "drill and kill" is STRICTLY against the rules.
Why, to improve "participation rates," of course. What do you think this is, some sort of meritocracy? /s
Like, wow man, you know, math is HARD!
I’m a wiz at all things English, but do TERRIBLE at Math. I just let the computers handle it because that’s why God put them here. Sure I’m great at basic math; Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and division, but once I get into Algebra and that other higher level material I’m lost. I hear that people have certain types of minds with regard to thought process, I think I’m just geared radically in one way.
> I hear that people have certain types of minds with
> regard to thought process, I think I’m just geared
> radically in one way.
There’s nothing wrong with that. Different people have different skills. I do have a problem with dumbing down intermediate and higher math and science classes in order to artificially improve “participation” (or whatever you’d like to call it) by people that aren’t equipped to be good at it.
It’s the equivalent of requiring no more than paragraphs in creative writing classes or nothing more difficult than pop fiction in literature classes.
Now my bubble’s going to be burst and someone’s going to tell me THAT is going on as well.
My theory about this is that the dominant voices among folks who are involved with highschool math teaching are people who do not like math very much.
Since they do not like math, they do not like the traditional/obvious/straightforward ways of teaching math, you know, drawing a 9x6 grid of dots and saying "see? 9x6=54", or doing multiplication and explaining things like why you "carry the 1", anymore than someone who did not like art would enjoy getting up there and saying "this is by Leonardo and it's called the Mona Lisa" every year. Math teachers find (they say they speak for the kids, but somehow it's always they who make the complaints) the normal/obvious math teaching approaches "hard" and "boring", and I do not doubt it, because they do not like math. They wish that the task of teaching math could be more fun and interesting for them (the teachers). But since they do not like math in the first place, the way it actually is, this requires changing the subject of math to become more to their liking. In other words it requires changing the subject of mathematics to some other subject that teachers will enjoy teaching more. (They still call this subject "mathematics" for reasons of political and bureaucratic necessity.)
Hence we get these complaints about algebra, about memorizing basic math facts, about how too much of lower mathematics is "just" "drill". In a similar vein, one might imagine a chemistry teacher who didn't like chemistry "complaining" that the Periodic Table of Elements is "boring" and "hard to motivate", and insisting that it be "reformed". This type of complaint may, in some cases, have merit (the Periodic Table is pretty boring and seems to come out of the clear blue sky to anyone who hadn't been exposed to quantum mechanics; memorizing the multiplication table is essentially a rote endeavor...) but it doesn't matter to people who actually care about imparting the facts associated with their subject. Mathematics in particular is hierarchical; if there are facts that are "boring", it doesn't matter, you still need to learn them, memorize them, internalize them, or at least learn how to derive them, before you can ever move on to higher subjects. The people who ignore this, or try to wish it away, are essentially giving up on giving their students the skills necessary to learn higher mathematics. (Many students still do, of course, no thanks to their teachers.)
This all would make no sense if the goal here were to prepare said students for higher mathematics. But it makes perfect sense if the goal is to maximize teacher comfort, security, and enjoyment in what they are doing. And indeed, I think that's what the goal really is, deep down. What teacher wouldn't rather spend math period having a classroom discussion about how their kids feel about the vanishing rainforest (or whatever), than to have to explain "boring" multiplication facts such as 7x8=56, and test the kids on it (which might make the kids sad/feel bad), etc etc etc - in other words, what teacher wouldn't prefer doing whatever they want in math class to actually doing math in math class?
Well, people who actually like and appreciate math wouldn't prefer the rainforest to math. But I suspect such people seldom become high school math teachers, or at least, if they do, their voices aren't able to influence the math curriculum.
> And he could not answer.
Did you try cinco menos dos?
Well I am attending coolege as an old young man, well it has been 15 years since HS. Anyways my last History test(HIS0102 even very basic) was a 96/100(without taking a single note in class) the class average was 66. Kids ask me why I know so much and I tell them it’s because I learned it in middle school, 20 years ago. I can’t believe education has dropped that far since then.
Good points all. Setting aside the fact that different people having differing skills, EVERYONE must have the minimal skills required to function in society. If you ask a high school student what 5-2 =, and if they have to think about it for even more than a second, there is a serious problem.
cinco menos dos son tres.
Hey, hey! F*ck the "educators", Boo-Boo!
Heh-heh. When I went back to collage in my 50’s and had to take Modern World History, I used to explain the same thing by saying that “It may be history for you, and even for the Professor, but I lived through it.”
VietVet
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