Now in French!
Posted on 05/02/2008 11:16:13 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
French primary school children will be learning multiplication tables by rote and conjugating verbs in the pluperfect tense under a back-to-basics programme to be introduced after the summer holidays.
Critics denouced Xavier Darcos, the Education Minister who developed the plan, as old-fashioned, out-of-touch and reactionary, and unions called for a strike over the reform.
He responded by saying: “It's not by listening to a great pianist for hours on end that you become one, it's by doing your scales.”
The programme is an attempt to prioritise French and mathematics on a primary school curriculum that has been loaded with subjects such as the history of cinema and discovery of the world.
Teachers have been told to provide ten hours of French lessons a week to six and seven-year-olds and eight hours to eight to ten-year-olds.
All primary school children will be taught five hours of mathematics a week.
Praise the Lord! I think this is a great idea. I learned the times tables when I was in school. If it was good enough for me, it is good enough for kida today.
What on earth??? The french were not learning their multiplication tables before?
The McGuffey reader was really good too in our countrys’ past educational curriculum....http://www.pbs.org/kcet/publicschool/evolving_classroom/books.html
It would be revolutionary to put it back in our school curriculum.....maybe some that get halfway to high school could read more effectively than the ones getting out, or close to getting out of high school, now.
I know it sounds radical, but maybe we should try this in the USA.
>Critics denouced Xavier Darcos
I thought liberal commies only dumbed down the education in PRE-revolution countries.
I am very confused.
So learning mathematics is reactionary? Explains the state of French Universities - not to mention their graduates.
When I was tutoring elementary algebra, I ran into the problem time and time again of trying to teach students who don’t know their multiplication tables how to factor quadratic expressions.
I don’t think it can be done. Memorization of the multiplication tables is an essential prerequisite, as far as I’ve been able to tell.
Hmmm. It appears that some of the French leadership sees a need to increase manufacturing there in the near future. IMO, we should be considering the same. Asian products will get pricier and more expensive to ship.
Why do you need to know math when all you do is sit at a cafe, smoke cigarettes, hate Americans and watch automobiles burn?
“He responded by saying: “It’s not by listening to a great pianist for hours on end that you become one, it’s by doing your scales.” “
No wonder the critics call him old fashioned. Doesn’t he know that it’s more important for students to have a high self-esteme; than it is for them to know how to multiply, or play music? /s
Now wait a minute, we all know 2 + 2 = 5.
It makes no difference if 2 + 2 = 5, or any other answer, so long as I feel good about the answer /s/
Many American students are not learning the multiplication tables (or the addition facts) either. This goes back at least to the 1980’s.
I love the part where the unions are going to strike. This suggests the teachers don’t know the multiplication facts or verb conjugations, either!
imagine unions going on strike over teaching times tables and grammar!
How does one do any math without knowing multiplication tables?
Now in French!
Are you seriously proposing that the public schools actually teach something useful?
Very badly! But for such as they actually do, they use calculators.
Varon,
Well as long as we don’t upset the NEA. A bit of math, spelling, reading, geography and history might be OK, but only if it does not interfere with sex ed, multicultural awareness, anti-smoking campaigns, gay rights, personal hygiene, evolution and global warming (aka “science”), and those special presentations that help you figure out if your parents are alcoholics so you can report them to CPS.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.