La Shawn Barber
02.07.06
Empty-Headed Education

tableUpdate: Visit the Carnival of Homeschooling!

Also visit The Old Schoohouse Magazine.
——————————————————

I thought if I wrote about race and intelligence, the sky would fall. It hasn’t. Not even a star. In my little corner of the blogosphere, I’m trying to raise awareness and get a few things out in the open.

While people are castigated for even raising the subject, government schools get away with ignoring or glossing over the differences. And it’s your kids who suffer.

The subject of this post is a classic example. Read on.

If you’re a parent, I’m sure you’ve heard of so-called whole learning where children — your children — are guided to “discover” answers instead of being rigorously taught. There is whole reading, where kids aren’t taught phonics — the best way to learn to read. They’re given books to “read” so they can figure out what words mean in context. I was in elementary school in the 1970s and was taught how to read phonetically. For the rest of you old heads, remember when the teacher had you “sound out” the letters of an unfamiliar word? Based on a solid foundation of knowing the sounds of letters, you were able to figure out the word.

But that’s too boring, regimented, and linear. It’s the best way to learn to read, but “best” is a such a relative and judgmental idea, isn’t it?

Kids in government schools are being cheated. I saw this headline in the Washington Post, New Way To Teach To Math Adopted, and knew instinctively what bureaucrats liked about this “new way”:

The program — “Investigations in Number, Data, and Space” — uses mostly worksheets and often poses math questions as real-life anecdotes, requiring students to show how they can solve a problem in many ways rather than merely scribble answers based on memorized formulas.

Some hard data showed “Investigations” was closing the achievement gap between white and minority students, a high-stakes goal that school districts nationwide are scrambling to meet under the federal government’s No Child Left Behind Act. After the program was initiated for Neabsco’s third-graders last academic year, school officials saw sharp increases in the number of students passing the SOLs, including black students and those in special education classes.

Let’s use our common sense and figure out what’s going on. When the reporter says “merely scribbling answers,” he’s showing distain for the traditional and reliable way to teach math (and most things): drilling, memorization, and linear thinking. Yes, readers, I got all that from those three words. The idea behind the “new way” is to remove the cognitive muscle of the lessons and dispense with such pesky things as mastering mathematical formulas, necessary to move to the next skill level. To give the appearance of improved performances, such programs use a “dumbed down” approach to teaching. Either too many black kids can’t grasp basic mathematical concepts, or teachers have just given up trying to teach them.

The academic achievement gaps between various races are an embarrassment to them, no doubt, and if there’s a way to “raise scores” and make themselves look good in the process, they’ll take it. But your kids are the ones who suffer.

Black children in lousy government schools using these programs don’t actually learn anything with these imbecilic education fads. Children aren’t taught basic problem-solving methods, which they will need for the rest of their academic careers. They receive feel-good lessons that make schools look good for “improving” performance but do nothing to help them master necessary skills. And nobody seems to care, NOT EVEN YOU PARENTS!

Didn’t mean to shout.

So what exactly is the “Investigations in Number, Data, and Space” program? Here’s what one evaluator had to say about the second grade material:

Addition and Subtraction of Whole Numbers [1.1]

This course guides children through a vast array of games and activities geared to providing them with a “feel” for numbers. In their adamance that facts and algorithms have no place in modern math classes, the authors accept that some children, at the end of second grade, will still add and subtract by drawing pictures and counting, or by counting back and forth on a “100 chart.” So much emphasis is placed on personal strategies that an entire activity is devoted to adding 29 + 12 (book 5 page 7). The children do not work with numbers greater than 100, they are never expected to memorize their number facts and never see the standard method to add or subtract multidigit numbers. Place value does not seem to be emphasized. The title page of the book concentrating on addition and subtraction notes, as do all the books, “Grade 2, Also appropriate for Grade 3” (emphasis in original). In other words, so what if kids don’t get anything in second grade, they can not get it in third grade as well.

Multiplication of Whole Numbers [1.0]

With the exception of some discussion of counting by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s, multiplication is not obviously introduced. If the word multiplication is used, the reviewers could not find it. The concept of multiplication is hinted at in book 4, Investigation 2, session 3, in which students make rectangular arrays from square counters. The students spend some time “copying” arrays that have been flashed on the overhead for 3 seconds (the purpose of this activity is hard to discern). Later they build rectangles given a fixed number of squares. Since they are asked to describe their rectangles (”I have 2 rows with 7 cubes in each”) the idea of 2 x 7 might come out, but this does not appear to be the purpose of the lesson. (Source)

He gives the program an F. The fifth grade curriculum fails, too. He writes:

Although there is a fairly reasonable number of student worksheets, the actual work expected is severely limited in depth and scope and is unlikely to support mastery of content.

Read the rest of the reviews.

Bottom line: Centuries worth of tried-and-true methods of learning are scrapped, and kids revert to drawing pictures and counting objects in groups when a simple multiplication formula would do. Teachers don’t have to teach, and kids “discover” the answers on their own. Amazing, isn’t it?

Since “minority” children tend to perform worse on traditional tests, social engineers, education Ph.D.’s, and other bureaucrats come up with these experiments — trendy, fluffy, and empty new programs — to test on your kids in a vain (double meaning intended) effort to raise the scores without actually teaching your precious progeny to achieve academic success.

Black kids overwhelmingly make up the student body at the worse schools in the nation. For whatever reason, black parents aren’t storming the schools, demanding reform and a return to the basics. Black parents aren’t filling up the PTA meeting halls like the white parents. Black parents aren’t going to parent-teacher conferences in great numbers, insisting on accountability for the schools, teachers, their kids, and themselves. Too many are content to complain and shout for more money, more money.

It’s either the racist Bush administration or the racist teachers who aren’t doing their jobs. The parents have no part to play in all this, right? Any parent who cares about his kids — white or black — would not put up with this nonsense. I feel sorry for kids stuck in failing government schools because the parents don’t have the decency and motivation to get them out and/or get them help. HOMESCHOOL YOUR KIDS, for goodness sake. Don’t you care?

The rant is over. Have a nice day.

Sources:

(I think you get the idea.)

Posted by La Shawn @ 10:18 am Permalink
Filed under: Education, Lunacy    


62 Comments

  1. I don’t understand how they can get away with this crap!!! Why are they continuously given a pass by the minorities in this country?? Can’t they see that the result of these types of ‘programs and fads’ is to ensure that you are never able to compete in the real world market???

    Teaching school in ‘Spanish’ as opposed to insisting that they learn English, teaching ‘Ebonics’??? Oh yeah, this will really get them ready for the ‘job market’… NOT!!! I just don’t understand why people aren’t screaming ‘Racism’ at the top of their lungs when they do this stuff…. I have always been upset with ‘Feminists’ for the same reason… I don’t want anything special, I don’t want anything handed to me, I want to know that I earned it… not because I was born ‘female’ but because I competed and won the position… All quotas do is ‘encourage weak and lackluster performances’ which in turn ‘limit growth potential’ for an individual.

    Generally people will take the shortest path offered, if you don’t expect hard work and excellence you will never get it.

    Comment by debsay — 02.07.06 @ 10:41 am

  2. Some North Texas Teachers Aren’t Making The Grade

    La Shawn Barber has an interesting blog entry this morning, Empty-Headed Education , and quite coincidental as well…
    There are some major failures in our educational system and I am guessing the problems are not limited to localities…
    Hund…

    Trackback by And THAT is MY Opinion... — 02.07.06 @ 11:04 am

  3. Sounds like the Think Method from The Music Man.

    Comment by John Davies — 02.07.06 @ 11:04 am

  4. I’ve going to have to go with a little of both sides here. I’ve always been a very mathematical and analytical person. Math was always my best subject; even got an A+ in Calculus in college. One thing I learned throughout my academic career was that there is no “right” method for everyone to learn. Personally I learn more by “doing” so this new fad, as you call it, would not have been at all bad for me. At the same time I think it’s horrible to not teach fundamentals using “drilling, memorization, and linear thinking”.

    For example, that A+ I had in Calculus in college.. that was my 2nd time taking the class. The first time was with a prof who was boring and used only the drilling/memorization method. I was failing and withdrew so I wouldn’t have an F on my record. The 2nd time was with a prof who used limited drilling/memorization and more real-life scenarios to show how we could use Calculus to solve those problems. For me personally that was much more effective (obviously with my grade) and to this day I use things I learned in that class. So I would say a combination of both methods would be an effective way to learn, but using just 1 (either of them) would hinder that process.

    And for the record, yes I do think “best” is a relative word when it comes to learning because as I mentioned above different people have different learning styles. What worked best for La Shawn sounds like it was different than what worked best for me.

    Comment by Thomas — 02.07.06 @ 11:16 am

  5. Thomas - I think it’s obvious that a good teacher will find ways to interest the students in the material, at any grade level. But the basic elementary school skills such as arithmetic and reading must be learned by rote memorization and problem-solving or practice. There is simply no substitute for memorizing the times tables and learning to add and subtract without the aid of a chart.

    The comparison to college is like apples and oranges. People can and do succeed in life without learning calculus.

    LaShawn - Since we’ve been married, my wife has become more and more cemented in the idea that we’re going to have to homeschool if our kids are going to ever learn anything.

    Comment by Matthew M. — 02.07.06 @ 11:54 am

  6. Hey Look LaShawn, I’m commenter number… 1-pinky-finger, 2-little-piggy, 3-little-piggy, 4-little-piggy, “THUMB”.

    I’M THE THUMB’TH COMMENTER TODAY!!!!

    Comment by bucktowndusty — 02.07.06 @ 11:59 am

  7. Thomas (comment #4) has a point — in many cases, learning of new subjects works best when you figure it out yourself rather than having someone drill “This is the best way” into you. I’ve seen that in advanced math classes, computer science, logic… So it’s not too surprising that the bureaucrats are trying this one — after all, it does make a great deal of sense…

    … FOR ADULTS.

    And there’s the rub. Every single one of those examples I mentioned had to do with an already-educated adult trying to add new skills to his/her repertoire. Skills like addition and multiplication should not be taught in the same way, because they’re such fundamental building blocks. Those skills need to be taught via drilling and repetition until they’re automatic: the student for whom 6×7 automatically triggers “42″ without any thinking is the one who’ll have a much easier time progressing to multiplication of 2-digit and 3-digit numbers. The one who has to stop and think hard about 6×7 is going to get lost with 3-digit numbers.

    Rote memorization is not a good technique for teaching most subjects to most adults, so it’s easy to understand why the reporter wrote disdainfully about “merely scribbling answers”. But it’s exactly the right method to teach the fundamentals of arithmetic.

    Comment by Robin Munn — 02.07.06 @ 12:02 pm

  8. LB,
    having gone through school pretty much around the same time as you, I am very familiar with the way we were taught (and used that on my son). I remember a few years ago, my son came home with some math problems and when I was showing him how to do them, he told me I was wrong based on what the teacher taught him. He then showed me some weird way he was taught at school. Matter of fact, it was a 50/50 shot regarding getting the correct answer (using this “new method”). After talking with my cousin, who is a school principal, she told me about some of these new teaching methods (although they were not implemented in her school system at the time).

    What do these “new educators” have to rely on? Education in America was based on the Bible from the founding of the country.

    When you take that foundation away, man is left to his own foolishness (and playing god tactics).

    The facts speak for themselves. Children’s education is yet another casualty of America’s war to replace God.

    SAD

    Comment by Renee — 02.07.06 @ 12:11 pm

  9. You have to read the LA Times article on Algebra. Ever since LA Unified started requiring Algebra to graduate, their drop-out rate has soared. So now their scrambling with a lot of after-school programs, that nobody shows up to….

    The school district doesn’t get it. You don’t make Algebra mandatory in high school, and then complain about the drop-out rate.

    Easy solution: Make Algebra mandatory to get in to high school. Standard Algebra needs to be taught at the junior high, or elementary school K-8 level. By the time students get to high school, it’s too late.

    Of course, K-8 teachers aren’t credentialed to teach higher math—-those teachers can barely add and subtract themselves.

    All I can say is: When you are out in the world….don’t depend on cashiers to make proper change. Read your receipts carefully.

    We definitely have a math crisis in this Country!

    Comment by Glamchild — 02.07.06 @ 12:15 pm

  10. Do You Want Empty Headed Education for Your Kids?

    LaShawn has written one of the most direct and incisive analyses I’ve seen anywhere of what is wrong with American public education and why all kids suffer as a result.

    Trackback by Tapscott's Copy Desk — 02.07.06 @ 12:15 pm

  11. LOS ANGELES TIMES: JANUARY 30, 2006

    “The vanishing class: A Forumula for Failure in LA schools”

    - “Because they can’t pass algebra, thousands of students are denied diplomas. Many try again and again — but still get Fs.”—–Los Angeles Times

    Comment by Glamchild — 02.07.06 @ 12:25 pm

  12. …hence, the need for race preferences when these kids apply for college!

    Comment by La Shawn — 02.07.06 @ 12:34 pm

  13. La Shawn Barber’s Corner Empty-Headed Education

    Some of this is simply appalling. If kids don’t learn the basic foundations of math and reading their ability to learn and explore on their own is crippled for life.

    La Shawn Barber’s Corner Empty-Headed Education

    I believe that teaching method…

    Trackback by Thumb Thoughts - From Michigan — 02.07.06 @ 12:36 pm

  14. Perhaps the biggest problem in the education of black America is the lack of education children receive at home.

    My mother taught at an essentially all black school. An unfortunately - and amazingly - high portion of the students at that school were raised by single parents who’d had children as young as 13, grandparents, aunts and uncles, or basically by their own siblings.

    The single biggest problem she encountered was a lack of education at home. Parents/guardians did not read to their children, did not support them in their homework, and did not provide stable home lives for them. The only time they took interest in their “baby” (and they always called them “baby”) was when they learned their child would not be going on to the next grade or when the child was suspended - obviously because my mother was just another racist white lady. On numerous occasions, my mother heard parents tell their children that they didn’t have to listen to a white lady and didn’t have to give her respect.

    It was easy to tell who received support at home. While many children were born and would likely go on to die at an early age in their slum, others were placed in the school by a fluke of geography or an unfortunate change in the parents’ employment (lay offs, etc.). These children excelled, were easily bored by the lessons that were “dumbed down” for their classmates and were, subsequently, singled out for ridicule as “acting white”. The occasional white child had it much worse - they were either persecuted or cast to the side, often left without friends other than other white students, who were very few in number, or black kids who “acted white”.

    Perhaps the biggest problem is that students who receive no home support don’t just fail themselves, they actually seek to destroy those who would otherwise succeed.

    Comment by William — 02.07.06 @ 1:28 pm

  15. I am a graduate Elementary (EC-4) Education student in Texas. When I was an undergrad (1988-1992), two of my roommates were elementary ed majors, and they both despaired of their elementary math class (how to teach math). I remembered that when I took my elementary math class this past fall. Luckily, I had an “old school” instructor who doesn’t agree with all the touchy-feely ways to teach math. He agrees that you MUST memorize the basics of addition, subtraction, multiplication & division. He stressed teaching place value. There is a method to proper math instruction. You begin with manipulatives (ones blocks, tens blocks and hundreds blocks), then move to pictures of the blocks, then you take the blocks away. I’m glad I had the instructor I had (who wrote his own text) as opposed to what my friends when through 15 years ago. I truly hope that I can make a difference, and try to fix things from the inside once I am a teacher. And if I can’t, if I ever have my own kids, I’ll know how to write a lesson plan to home-school them if there isn’t an acceptable school wherever I might be….

    Comment by Lisa — 02.07.06 @ 1:29 pm

  16. A comment on the thoughts posted by Thomas and Robin Munn…

    Both of you are correct in your assessments. Thomas, all of us approach problems differently, and as long as the solution is mathematically sound, different methods of achieving the solution are acceptable. But the key is still sound mathematics. We have to know the basics before we can accurately use creative problem-solving skills.

    And Robin, you hit the nail on the head — much of the failed “outcome-based education” methods used in today’s schools stem from the mis-application of programs developed for adults. This is because of flawed thinking on the part of education professionals who attempt to redefine the congitive processes of children using analogs to adult thinking.

    Children are not adults, however. Any parent with common sense knows this. Only the brightest children can learn from methods based on deductive reasoning, simply because children lack the lifetime of experience and knowledge, the ’school of hard knocks’ if you will, that is posessed by an adult.

    For me, it took the full progression of secondary school and college for many mathematical concepts to finally “make sense.” That probably has more to do with my own maturity and understanding than it has to do with teaching methods. “Number lines” probably seem like a useless idea to most elementary school kids, but once you go through the calculus sequence in college and discover how to map 3-dimensional objects in Cartesian space and then mathematically manipulate the results, the pieces start to come together. And it finally dawns on you why you spent time learning number lines and graphs and trigonometry in high school.

    But unless children are required to endure the wrote learning of basics like ‘number lines’,multiplication tables, long division, and the like, they will never have the skills necessary to do higher mathematics — or balance a checkbook for that matter. I cringe at the thought of kids trying to holistically solve problems before they know how to multiply two numbers together.

    Comment by Mike — 02.07.06 @ 1:44 pm

  17. This is nuts. Whether you are a “thinker” or a “feeler,” black or white, liberal or conservative, the one thing we should all be able to agree on is the fact that mathematics is all about calculation and logic, and no amount of feeling can change it.

    I vividly remember being in 4th grade, and me and most of my classmates getting stuck in the middle of that year’s math book. It was time to memorize the multiplication tables - loathsome and boring. Day after day after day we did the same thing. We despised the teacher with a fiery, burning passion. She was unmoved by our hatred. “If you’re tired of doing ‘em, learn ‘em.” was her response. Today, whenever presented with the need to multiply any one- or two-digit numbers, I can do it in my head, no pencil or calculator needed. It’s not because I’m some super-brain, it’s because I had a teacher who actually TAUGHT math, and held me ACCOUNTABLE to learn it.

    I agree La Shawn - I feel sorry for kids stuck in these absolute wastelands called government schools.

    Comment by James E — 02.07.06 @ 1:52 pm

  18. For the record I do care about my child’s progress in his public school. But I don’t have enough money to 1) send to private school…most schools up here cost $700-$850 a month for two kids. 2) I/we don’t make enough to up and quit our jobs to home school our children. 3) I make too much to get any sort of vouchers/public assistance…whatever. All we can do is work with our kids daily on their homework, make sure they study enough to grasp the basics and go to those teacher conferences. That being said, some teachers will pass your children no matter what kind of work they produce. My son missed a couple ??’s on his math test and was still given an “A” on the test?? It drives me crazy to work hard with my kids, just to have someone give them a grade they did not earn. What can I do, when I am not “Poor”, have a good job and can’t get the luxuries of vouchers/public assistance. It seems you either have to be “poor” or “well off to get out of the system. Most of the kids that my sons hang with are in the same boat. True middle class working families that make too much(ha ha) or make too little to do anything that would move us out of the Public school system.

    Comment by Marc Armstead — 02.07.06 @ 2:02 pm

  19. Post 18:

    Marc Armstead: There are free online resources. Your kids can do both homeschool and public school. Saxon Publishers makes much of their curriculum available free, online.

    Go to : www(dot)saxonhomeschool(dot)harcourtachieve(dot)com

    There’s no excuses. Many of the classical Christian academies offer scholarships, and have part-time schedules. They require several years of Latin, which helps with logic and analytical skills. It’s a world apart from Government schools. The Government schools are just rat traps for kids.

    Do some investigation and see what you can work out with some of the online resources, and distance learning through the classical Christian academies. They’ll work with you.

    Comment by glamchild — 02.07.06 @ 2:19 pm

  20. This is because schools have far to many OTHER subjects to be concerned with - they can’t possibly teach the “old school way!” Recall that the 9th Circuit Court in California made the decision that PARENTS do not have exclusive right to teach sexual education to 1st, 3rd and 5th graders - nope, the Palmdale School District will handle it. Who’s got time for learning the “times tables” when you’ve got to learn stuff like whether or not it is okay to “think about touching my private parts,” or “think about touching other people’s private parts.” [This is old news, at this point, and I don’t recall all of the actual specifics, but the effect was that some school district questioned YOUNG children as to their sexual orientation and when parents sued over this the court ruled that the school DID have the authority to be teaching children - CHILDREN - their “options” with regard to sexual education!!! Oh - and what school district is it that believes that adolescents should be taught to put condoms on bananas so that if/should/when the occasion presents itself!?!] Math? Huh? “Doesn’t your cell phone have a calculator function?” Thus, your point, as to learning the “times tables” becomes moot. Besides the “other stuff” going on today [i.e., cartoons inciting more than violence], ‘ya have to wonder what this world is coming to…

    Comment by Beth — 02.07.06 @ 2:48 pm

  21. Tuesday Roundup

    Cognitive differences or not, La Shawn Barber has one thing right: Government schools are failing the kids.

    Trackback by Kn@ppster — 02.07.06 @ 3:10 pm

  22. Thanks for the info Glam.

    Comment by Marc Armstead — 02.07.06 @ 3:19 pm

  23. These trendy methods of math instruction have been the focus of many posts on my blog. So far I’ve hit on Hispanic Math, Anti-Racist Math, Ethnomathematics, and a graduate school course guide for a Multicultural Math course. Thanks for the heads-up on this latest trend.

    What these reformers should do is pretty clear. What we know from the research literature is that Black and Hispanic kids are disproportionately negatively impacted by these constructivist reforms. It wouldn’t be too difficult to devise testing instruments that would be given to all students on an annual basis. These instruments, or teacher assessments, would determine the student’s responsiveness to particular pedagogical approaches. Once we know which students excel under didactic and constructivist approaches we can tailer classes specifically to the kids or tailer individual instruction to kids in a mixed pedagogy class. Here’s the sensitive issue - is it better to tailer the instruction so that the kids get the most efficient learning environment even though it will be obvious to many that there will be racial imbalance in the distribution. Note that I’m not saying that all black kids go to one class and all white kids to another. because there is a significant overlap in the constructivist/didactic spectrum.

    Another thing we know from institutions like KIPP schools is that black achievement can be advanceded quite a bit. Here the question becomes do we want to improve achievement or do we want to equalize process, for, in most cases, we can’t have both. The KIPP schools are in session for over 9 hours/day instead of 6.5, hold classes on Saturdays, and are in session for an additional month over the summer. These schools actually deliver the goods and don’t rely on gimmicks like La Shawn highlighted here to mask the problem. Again, this type of school would benefit any student, but we as a society need to clearly state what principle we wish to advance and which goals we want to accomplish. KIPP schools mean more time and effort are required from some students than others and that’s clearly unequal.

    Also, instead of shying away from research that touches on race, we should look at the results that are derived and incorporate them to develop better delivery mechanisms. For instance, we know that:

    for black students the most beneficial practice is the emphasis on topics of measurement and estimation. On the other hand, testing has a disproportionately negative impact on black students. . . For Latino students, the most beneficial practice is the emphasis on data analysis. There are no practices analyzed here that proved specifically detrimental to Latino students.

    We don’t yet know whether we’re looking at genetic or cultural factors being at play here, but we’re seeing differential outcomes to instruction. If we know this, shouldn’t we investigate ways to build on the cognitive strengths and find ways to bridge and support the weaknesses, rather than just pretending these differences don’t exist?

    Comment by TangoMan — 02.07.06 @ 4:05 pm

  24. This “new teaching” type of thing happened to me in the early 1970’s. I was in 2nd Grade, and they were trying to teach New Math (everything had a base). When I went into 3rd Grade, the curriculum reverted back and the teacher said we were supposed to know multiplication tables. It caused me a lot of anxiety. My mother asked the teacher at what point I was supposed to learn my multiplication tables and the teacher told her that I would have to be taught them at home because the “curriculum” didn’t allow time for things that should have been taught in 2nd Grade. (The school didn’t have the nerve to contact parents over the summer and inform them the curriculum was reverting back to the old methods).

    Comment by Philip — 02.07.06 @ 4:22 pm

  25. At this rate they will probably come up with a plan that entails handing everyone high school diplomas after Kindergarten.

    Comment by Richard — 02.07.06 @ 4:54 pm

  26. This all reminds me of the foolishness of trying to teach something brand new by resort to fancy analogies. Analogy doesn’t work until you already nearly understand something. Otherwise, analogies confuse the learner by seeming to go off into a different subject when the primary subject is not yet grasped.

    So these teaching wonks are all caught up in how clever they are, see how we rearranged all this horrible math and got rid of the nasty bits.

    It’s a shame too, because I remember feeling proud of learning the multiplication tables, though it was in the 4th grade for me (circa 1960. I still am a little foggy on 7×8; I must have been absent that day.)

    And one thing that always got my goat, even when I was young, was a student or a PARENT saying “how are you going to use this in REAL life??” Man, I never felt that way about any subject. You’ve got to know that as soon as a parent starts dismissing the kid’s algebra homework this way, the kid’s going to deep six it himself.

    Comment by cassandra — 02.07.06 @ 4:55 pm

  27. My sons hated manipulatives and did poorly with them, but they were fine with the ethereal abstract 7 x 7 = 49. Far too much time is spent trying to turn math lessons into English grammar (presumably for the benefit of girls). I alsays made sure my sons picked up the tables at thome and a general math understanding year by year. In the real world, mathematical skills are better paid (because rarer) than verbal skills. The new math of the 1960’s was worse than useless because it crowded out better teaching methods. (the two motifs were cumbersome methods and using inobvious axioms to prove things obviously true). It sounds as if the new new math actually teaches things that are incorrect.

    I am generally thought to have a good mathematical understanding. I always learned it by rote (so that the understanding was a front), and a couple of years later it would come to me why it worked.

    After-school and before-school work with children can bring government schools at least a long way towards home-schooling.

    Comment by levi from queens — 02.07.06 @ 6:39 pm

  28. Most schools that I know that went through that ‘whole learning’ phase have gone back to the basics. Like with block scheduling, schools always go back to what worked in the first place. Why fix what isn’t broken?

    Comment by RepJ — 02.07.06 @ 7:00 pm

  29. The trend-oriented approach drove my family out of the public school system. I urge parents to do all they can to supplement the public school teaching with homeschooling if they can not homeschool, to search every possible means to move their children to good schools, to look into financial aid for private schools, or to homeschool. I can not stress enough how important this is.

    The way I see it, the biggest responsibility a parent has is their child’s education (every aspect of it: academic, moral, civic, and spiritual).

    Comment by Fausta — 02.07.06 @ 8:04 pm

  30. Yes, La Shawn, you did mean to shout. You meant to shout because so many children are being damaged by this stuff, yet so few seem to take notice. I hate to say this but the “new” reading and “new” math were getting trial runs in the 1950’s. You put your finger (or your focus) on only part of the problem.

    The question of if schools are education for children or a jobs program for adults has already been decided. The children lost. Since adults with jobs in education mostly belong to one political party, things are going to stay the way they are. Bloggers target audiences are not those who need the most to know of these problems.

    The Major Media, those who have at least a chance to reach those affected belong to the same political side of the equation. Nothing that could let the enemy win a point is important enough to keep poor children from being seriously damaged. Besides, they are all racists anyway. So PC deliberately - deliberately hurts poor children. In this contest “poor” is more accurate than “black”.

    How can I saw it is with malice afore thought? Because we are not dealing exclusively with stupid people here. If you are intelligent enough to be aware of the problem, and let it slide, it is deliberate. Sorry if I provoke anyone into over reacting but I also am bitter about the state of our children’s education. The problem is widespread and can be found up to and including doctorates.

    Parents are the worst part of the problem only to the extent that they realize the gravity of it. To many parents, and grandparents, have been failed badly enough that they do not even know how deep the echos reach.

    I have often thought the analogy of Jews as the canaries in a coal mine had something elusive tagged rather well. Those who are actually racist enough to believe its not a problem because its “them” had better wake up that as black families are going, white families are now going. As education is failing our children, the “new” morals are failing our families. That is, us.

    I will not mind being raged at if someone can put a finger on how to solve the problem.

    Comment by Ted Moore — 02.07.06 @ 8:32 pm

  31. Another good source for phonics is http://donpotter.net. His page has numerous articles on intensive phonics along with the actual curricula for teaching reading. And it’s all free.

    Comment by Laurie Bluedorn — 02.07.06 @ 8:33 pm

  32. 44% of Los Angeles Unified School District 9th graders fail algebra. Fail. F. Some 12th graders have failed it 6 times.

    The proposal from the USFD? Stop teaching algebra in high school. After all, you won’t need it when you graduate.

    But since anybody who cares about their children’s education in L.A. sends their kids to private schools, nobody’s squawking.

    The bottom line, sorry La Shawn, is that it is racist. It’s just black and Mexican kids anyway, so who cares?

    Comment by tim everitt — 02.07.06 @ 8:55 pm

  33. Lucky for “me and my house,” my daughter is homeschooling our five grandchildren, despite giving up an extra, and sizeable, income that she could easily command by working outside the home. She is a bright and capable college graduate who had commanded a fine salary before the decision to have a family. Some of the in-laws originally had “concerns” about the social deficits inherent in the homeschooling concept, but time and wonderful results has relieved these worries. My daughter is part of a homeschooling group, and every time I hear about school violence or the goofy stuff that’s taught in school, I hit my knees in gratitude. I thank God that my daughter has improved on my model (and I was a pretty fine mother), which is as it should be. The children are well adjusted, safe, and all that a grandmother could wish for. Homeschooling is a viable and wonderful option/investment that we grandparents support in every way, even financially, we can. As your post shows, it is a shame that our tax dollars for public schools are a such a waste.

    Comment by Marybel — 02.07.06 @ 10:20 pm

  34. Vaguely relevant since you mentioned homeschooling:

    Oprah’s essay contest excludes homeschoolers:
    http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48615

    Comment by Howard — 02.07.06 @ 10:28 pm

  35. La Shawn, in an earlier post you said you had never had an IQ test. You can get an ESTIMATE from your SAT scores here: http://members.shaw.ca/delajara/GREIQ.html
    Again, only an ESTIMATE.

    I was in high school in the 60s, so I missed the introduction of the “new math” in grade school. I tutored the younger brother of one of my HS classmates. He had a lot of trouble with his multiplication tables. Even then I knew this wasn’t a good thing. I thought they’d see that and fix it. How naive! The rot has gotten into every subject.

    It’s not just the USA. I saw a mention today on some blog of a BBC online article that the UK is having the same problems (can’t find it right now). HS graduates can’t spell or do math well enough to get a job.

    Comment by Jim C. — 02.07.06 @ 11:27 pm

  36. LaShawn,

    For once, this black liberal is in agreement with you. I left teaching because each year there were all these new plans and ideas and methods and the kids were still failing in my largely black, heavily poor school district. When other teachers and I pointed out that we learned basic things by rote, the various workshop leaders and principals would eye us coldly and say “that doesn’t work for today’s kids.” In the world of education, I’ve always been made to feel like I’m something of an anomaly–a smart, “acting white” black girl who learned by “traditional” methods. These methods don’t challenge kids, we learn, don’t address different learning styles, don’t allow for differences. My answer is always, but it worked for me and countless others.

    And now that I have a second grader who’s learning his multiplication tables, all I know to do is teach it to him by rote (yes, they do this in second grade now!). I’m all for hands-on and interaction, but at some point in the day, children have to sit and listen and some things they have to memorize. Sometimes, teachers have to take the lead and teach. I believe that with all my heart. Some of the research on learning styles and alternative techniques has been helpful, but a lot of it ignores the need to build a foundation. And I worry while we keep equating new with better and improved, that our children are missing out and falling further behind.

    Comment by Elle Gray — 02.07.06 @ 11:37 pm

  37. Greetings! I’ve been flipping though recent blog entries, and am very favorably impressed.

    Congratulations, and continued success to you.

    I have a small comment for “tim everett” (post #32) — I haven’t seen evidence that the attitude is one of “who cares [about minority children]?” In fact, these programs are generally driven from the liberal side of the political spectrum (frequently leadership of teachers’ unions), and the proponents would object to this characterization.

    Nevertheless, the “support” of minority children by “defending” their self-esteem — an argument I’ve heard frequently — seems likely to me to harm the children every bit as badly as if there were evil racists pulling the strings.

    Perhaps, as a science fiction character once put it, “a difference which makes no difference is no difference.”

    It may as well be racism.

    ===|==============/ Level Head

    Comment by Level_Head — 02.07.06 @ 11:49 pm

  38. I want to comment on your previous post, about the spending. No comments enabled there; and when I tried to send email, I was rebuffed by an “automated response”.

    Hmmmph!

    Well…that PREVIOUS post, about the spending, reminded me of that Chris Rock routine about Black people and…their adversaries.

    Books are like KRYPTONITE! They break in your house, you wanna save your money–put it in the books! Because they don’t READ!

    Heeee.

    Comment by El Conquistadore — 02.07.06 @ 11:56 pm

  39. Rote memorization is fine–for speed and functioning in exams. But–understanding how to approach problems is even more important for those who write the equations that people use. For example, one can learn that when dividing fractions, one simply flips the “upstairs” and “downstairs” of one of the fractions and multiplies. However, even a number of the teachers that I’ve spoken with don’t have any real understanding of why 1/(2/3)=1.5. In geometry, one could do rather well by memorizing proofs, but down the line a point will come when true understanding becomes far more important. I considered myself rather slow in math and it wasn’t until calculus that my efforts at understanding began to outpace those that took the rote approach. However, once that understanding was achieved, it allowed me to take “analysis on Manifolds” during my first year of college. The same is true of physics and other subjects. Because I understood the material, I could start taking graduate courses in physics and math by my second year in college–which was only possible because I had put in a LOT of time and effort into understanding the whys behind the basics.

    So, while I think that rote memorization has its place (sometimes it’s just nice to have certain facts at your fingertips, or to be able to do basic calculations when a calculator isn’t available), it’s not by far the most important thing. I’m not suggesting that students, “discover” all of human knowledge for themselves, but that they be guided into understanding the process by which it was generated so that they can produce something new themselves, rather than just relying on what has already been developed. In my experience, that is the one area where US schools at their best excel over many international ones. The technical skills of the average american student are fairly weak (I can only speak to the sciences and mathematics) relative to those of the international students who come here for graduate school. It is only in creativity that we have a chance and even that window is closing…

    So my suggestion would be, spend some initial time explaining WHY you do things a certain why before you go into drill and kill mode.

    #18, I can’t speak to your son’s specfiic case and your locality, but there was a recent study showing that private schools and public schools had the same performance when adjusted for parental income. In a number of cities, students do rather well in public schools (where I grew up, the top of the public schools were superior to the private and parochial schools)–but of course there are regional variations. When your son is older, if he has an interest in math/science/engineering, there are a number of free or cheap enrichment opportunities offered by universities over the summers. For example, some labs offer jobs to high school students. There also used to be competitions like the midwest talent search where you take the SAT in 7th or 8th grade and if you perform well enough, you can take some specially taught classes at Northwestern.
    A number of churches also offer tutoring services, so your son my try to take advantage of those for self study.

    Comment by resigned — 02.08.06 @ 12:36 am

  40. No Grade Lower Than 50

    The title is referring to the minimum grade an elementary school teacher is required to give to a student at the school where my wife taught. There were no exceptions. She was not allowed to give a grade lower than 50 on anything even if the student…

    Trackback by The Land of Ozz — 02.08.06 @ 1:14 am

  41. I believe a stable family with good moral values are also important factors that contribute to academic, economic and cultural success. I keep in touch with 8 other black guys that I’ve known for over 45 years. All of us were raised in loving Christian families in Detroit MI. 6 made it to adulthood with both parents in the home.(2 had a parent die of illness at a young age) 6 of 9 went to government schools, 3 went to catholic schools. All 9 attended college, 5 graduated and 3 obtained post-graduate degrees.

    8 of us work (1 took early retirement.) 5 have worked the same job more than 25 years; 2 have worked more than 15 years on the same job. 7 of us are homeowners.

    8 of us married and 7 of us are still married. 3 of us married twice but the children of those 3 were born and raised in the 2nd marriage. There are 12 children in our group, all born and raised in wedlock. They range in age from 17 to 30. All 12 went to government schools. 9 went to government schools in Detroit. 3 went to government schools in upscale Detroit suburbs. Most but not all of us were involved parents and belonged to and participated in the parent-teacher assoc. 9 of the 12 attended college and 3 are still in high school.

    The point is that between the 2 generations, we were overwhelmingly educated in different neighborhood government schools yet we all are successful middle class citizens with living standards that are pretty much even…..except one of us nine has a son who last fall signed a MEGA MILLION DOLLAR PRO FOOTBALL CONTRACT!

    Comment by Leon — 02.08.06 @ 1:27 am

  42. La Shawn Barber’s Corner » Empty-Headed Education: Here, LaShawn gives me to understand that idiots are trying to teach math in YET another new way. Kids find math hard, so instead of helping them, and encouraging them to keep at it, beef-brained teachers dumb it down.

    Pingback by Strangeness in math education at white pebble — 02.08.06 @ 7:51 am

  43. Tip of the Bonnet to La Shawn Barber

    She shares
    how students are cheated by government schools. Take a look at the “new
    math”….this is silly. Loved your…

    Trackback by Home Where They Belong... — 02.08.06 @ 8:12 am

  44. LaShawn,

    I live in a whole language waste land, and decided to home school my children for the simple reason that I wanted them to learn how to LOVE reading. That was pretty much the goal. We also used Saxon Math, which is known as the greatest math curriculum ever created. (Although some people have been questioning the buyout of the Saxon curriculum and claiming that the new owners have been dumbing it down a little).

    During the five years that we home schooled, it was amazing how many people criticized by “credentials”. I frankly didn’t have any. I just knew that I wanted my children to have a love of reading, and a good foundation in Math. My husband also felt passionate about teaching the true history of America, and so every morning before he went to work, we said the Pledge of Allegiance, sang the star spangled banner, and he taught the children an American History lesson for an hour.

    Then I drilled the children in phonics, had a spelling bee every day, and they did one saxon math lesson per day. I based my day on the Robinson Homeschool model - http://www.robinsoncurriculum.com/

    And we plugged along until I gave birth to my fifth baby.

    Then we decided to send the children to a parent run charter school in our community. All four of my kids are at the charter and doing very well academically and socially. We just had report cards last week, and my husband and I were really happy with what we saw.

    Here is the link to the schools web site:
    http://www.peaktopeak.org/

    I also would encourage parents to home school, at least until the children are “reading for pleasure” - this level of literacy generally takes about three years to attain. With three years of systematic phonics most children will be reading at the level where they demand that parents take them to the library for new books.

    Every time I see one of my kids reading for the fun of it, I just have to marvel at the complete success of our home school. My youngest child will not set foot in a school, even the charter school, until he is reading for pleasure.

    There is not one college for teachers that educates future reading “experts” in phonics. Every single one of them are caught up in the whole language cult. Until the teacher colleges are reformed and local school boards refuse to hire teachers trained in whole language, nothing is going to change.

    But parents can teach children to read.

    I continue to cringe every time I hear someone mention a family member who is Dyslexic. This is the diagnosis the educrats have come up with to cover their butts when kids don’t learn to read.

    Keep exposing!

    Jenny

    Comment by Jenny Hatch — 02.08.06 @ 8:35 am

  45. The bottom line is that if you truly care about your child’s education you will homeschool him or her. Homeschooling often requires financial, physical, and mental sacrifice but it is worth it.

    To Jenny Hatch: I agree that educrats use Dyslexia as an excuse but sometimes it is a true diagnosis. My daughter (10) is Dyslexic. That, however, doesn’t mean she can’t read. She recently completed Don Quixote, The Tempest, and The Last of the Mohicans. These were the unabridged versions. That’s the kind of result you get from a quality education.

    Comment by Mrs. Happy Housewife — 02.08.06 @ 9:37 am

  46. lashawn, it’s not just some kids who will suffer. eventually the entire country will if we have alot of people who don’t know even the rudiments of math or science or what is meant by hard work. the process by which the country produces jobs or plumbing or paved roads or anything good is one that we take for granted. we forget the values and the skills that underlie the culture. in order for me to have my house and electricity and a car with gas in it and medical care for my child takes the knowledge and cooperations of tens of millions. there has to be a level of knowledge. there has to be a value whereby the person says this job has to be done right and i will do it the best i know how. these qualities begin in early childhood. these qualities sound simple but it is not simple to produce them. what i feel sometimes is that the US is like a house. it’s a good strong fine house so people want to move into it. but the people moving in don’t know how to build it or maintain it. they don’t even realize that someone had to build and maintain it. they think it’s just there somehow. and the number of people who know how to do things is going down relative to the number who don’t know how to. good intentions are not enough.

    Comment by Anita — 02.08.06 @ 10:32 am

  47. Dumb and Dumberer

    La Shawn Barber on education. Crack open a 6th grade math textbook from 1900. You be a tad surprised. We haven’t come a long way baby….

    Trackback by BlogWatch — 02.08.06 @ 10:59 am

  48. La Shawn Barber on education. Crack open a 6th grade math textbook from 1900. You be a tad surprised. We haven’t come a long way baby.

    Pingback by Pseudo-Polymath — 02.08.06 @ 11:25 am

  49. La Shawn:

    I know I’ve mentioned this before in e-mails to you, but I think your readers might like to know about the fastest-growing trend in solid education today, and it’s based on ideas that are literally hundreds of years old: Classical Christian Schooling. This method is an attempt to recover the staggeringly successful educational methods that were used in medieval schools, when solidly educated students would routinely enter college fully prepared (in both their native language and Latin) at age 16.

    These methods work just as well today as they did back then, and they are uniquely attuned to the developmental progression of the child in a way that none of the trendy educrat methods can match.

    There are two things that anyone even remotely interested in this proven method should read: First, Dorothy Sayers (yes, the Oxford professor and author of the Lord Peter Wimsey mystery novels) classic 1947 essay, The Lost Tools of Learning. Second, as a follow-up and to put more flesh on the bones, Douglas Wilson’s book series on Classical Christian Education, beginning with “Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning.”

    This method works - even when the schools implementing it (such as the one my children have attended here in Austin) do an incredibly poor job of putting it into actual practice, it still produces dramatically superior knowledge and understanding in the children than traditional methods. (It’s not that unusual for children from Classical Christian private shcools or homeschools to score 1100-1200 on the SAT in *7th* grade - My daughter did, and my son is likely to, and it’s not all the superior genetics ;-), undoubtedly from my wife…)

    This method is worth a look for anyone that wants to see how education can really deliver what it should, rather than the pale but still unmet promises we settle for in today’s world.

    Comment by Dub Dublin — 02.08.06 @ 12:55 pm

  50. Dear La Shawn,

    You are hopelessly retrograde in your thinking. The goal of the new math is to get kids to think in new ways.

    The correct answer is not the goal, because - THERE ARE NO CORRECT ANSWERS!

    It’s all about the process and not about the project.

    (end sarcasm)

    Now, of course, the resulting educational accomplishments of these student might mean that they cannot perform simple tasks and will become the french fry cooks of the future - but the teachers can say, “At least they know the process.”

    And this makes it all the better for the few parents who yank their kids out of public schools and teach them the basics at home - and whose kids thereby have an even greater chance of succeeding.

    Just ask yourself - these Ph.D.’s from India and Pakistan that are coming to America in droves - are THEY learning their maths this way, or do they learn maths the old-fashioned way? Do all the Chinese research labs’ employees use these new methods, or the old methods?

    Seems like the goal is create a class of American students who can’t pour water from a boot if the instructions are printed on the heel - because these student will consider that all possible angles have an equal chance of being right.

    Comment by steve matlock — 02.08.06 @ 1:54 pm

  51. My feelings are mixed about this post LaShawn. First, the new program referenced is probably a load of crap foisted off as progress. When children are young (thru 3rd or 4th grade) their minds are not typically mature enough to find the answers themselves. They respond well to being spoon fed the answers. Children also respond well to the unbreakable logic of arithmetic, young children are very absolute in their thinking.

    So, it is not too much to ask a child to memorize multiplication tables or other ‘drudges’ of arithmetic. Provided, that is, that they regularly get the right kinds and amounts of food, sleep, and discipline. (aye, there’s the rub)

    When one moves beyond mere arithmetic and one is talking about algebra or calculus, the situation changes. Different approaches to learning are needed.

    Allowing the children to find the answers on their own, or at least with lighter guidance, is a good idea. The problem is that the guide has to be familiar with the territory and the destination. And the guide has to care that you arrive.
    Also, finding your own way means that some people will sprint in a straight line from problem to answer while others will meander in the wilderness before arriving at the answer. This model does not jibe well with moving a class of 30 (or 20 or 10) kids to the next chapter in the book so that they can finish the requirements by summer break.

    Homeschool is not a panacea but it does have the advantages that kids can work at their own pace, that their forward progress is individually and constantly monitored, and that the teacher has a strongly vested interest in the child’s success.

    Comment by Dan — 02.08.06 @ 4:33 pm

  52. I’m certainly not arguing that homeschooling is a panacea, but I believe parents who care can do a whole lot better than the government school system. Homeschooling, private schools or private tutoring are the answers. Socialist leftists seem to have no interest in teaching and ensuring that kids master the basics, which are necessary to move to the next level. If kids don’t do that, they’ll have problems for the rest of the compulsory education on into higher education.

    Comment by La Shawn — 02.08.06 @ 4:47 pm

  53. You’re right, homeschooling is not the only answer. But when will American parents wake up to the fact that their educational resources are largely squandered.

    Put a motivated student at home with motivated parents, and it doesn’t much matter how well educated the parent is - that student will be educated.

    Put an unmotivated student in a lackluster school supported by lackluster parents - and you’ll have a generation of marching morons.

    Homeschooling seems to work so well, I think, because it links motivated parent to motivatable student - and avoids the middle man. It’s generally cheaper than public schooling. And it’s generally a lot more efficient.

    I know there are other avenues for education besides public schools. I’m amazed that more parents *who claim to love their children* don’t explore these avenues. If I saw that kids who were educated in system A were always higher performers than those educated in system B, *and* my kids were in system B, I’d be motivated to check system A.

    I’ll bet you could accomplish the same in educating kids in about an hour at home with what they accomplish in 6 hours at school in the primary grades.

    Comment by steve matlock — 02.08.06 @ 6:18 pm

  54. Great post La Shawn. Keep up the good work.

    Comment by spunkyhomeschool — 02.08.06 @ 7:18 pm

  55. Actually, those “inquiry” or “discovery” methods have some validity to them - provided the instructor has a mastery of the core knowledge. In the hands of someone who incompletely understands the concepts, it’s a real disaster. That’s one of the major problems with math education in this country. The methods are conceived in colleges and universities, tested on pilot teachers (who are generally FAR more capable in the subject area than the average), and, finally, implemented in a small group that is thoroughly schooled in the method and given MUCH support.

    Then, the schools mandate it for all their teachers.

    And then all hell breaks loose, as poorly trained teachers attempt to teach what they really don’t understand.

    Particularly in elementary school, you could probably improve math education the most by simply requiring working teachers, not just pre-service teachers, to take college-level courses in math until they hit a base level of competency.

    Comment by Linda F — 02.08.06 @ 11:43 pm

  56. It is time for a math assignment: Please solve 3 divided by 7/8. Please solve this in two ways. Explain both solutions and justify your mathematical reason and logic. And no, “Yours is not to understand why, yours is just to invert and multiply” will not suffice as reason and logic. In addition, please write a real life problem (story problem) that will match both of your solutions.
    Your explanation and justification must be addressed to an average 6th grader. It must answer these basic questions: What is a reciprocal? Why do we use it in this problem and how? Why do we invert? Who made this rule up? Why do we multiply? When will I ever use this in life. I don’t get it?
    Those are just the superficial questions before tackling deeper conceptual issues. Remember, your answer is addressed to 6th graders, not adults.
    I work as math consultant with schools and teachers. I am curious to see the responses. I especially want to see the responses of those that believe that rote memorization of these basic skills is the answer to effective math instruction.

    Comment by Israel — 02.09.06 @ 9:55 am

  57. “…Since “minority” children tend to perform worse on traditional tests, social engineers, education Ph.D.’s, and other bureaucrats come up with these experiments — trendy, fluffy, and empty new programs — to test on your kids in a vain (double meaning intended) effort to raise the scores without actually teaching your precious progeny to achieve academic success…”

    Question: I don’t doubt this but how can students in the TERC math programs better in standardized tests if it isn’t teaching them real math? Or do we just not really know yet?

    I ask because I did some research and found out TERC was implemented in my burg, starting at the high schools and then at poorest neighborhood school with the most “at-risk” students. How do I find out how they’re doing? How do you wrest control of these things? Does getting on school board help? I’m thinking of taking a run at it.

    Comment by cassandra — 02.09.06 @ 3:42 pm

  58. Not sure whether to post this on the “Rcae & intelligence” thread of this one.

    Anyway GNXP ( http://www.gnxp.com/blog/2006/02/face-of-discrimination.php ) has a link to this
    http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=4477572

    A U.S. Justice Department investigation into hiring practices at the Virginia Beach Police Department has concluded that a math exam given to recruits discriminates against blacks and Hispanics.

    The math test is one of a handful of separately times and scored components of the National Police Officer Selection Test used to screen and select entry-level officers. The investigation found that between 2002 and 2005, about 85 percent of white applicants passed the math test, while 66 percent of Hispanic applicants and 59 percent of blacks passed.

    Comment by Francis — 02.09.06 @ 5:09 pm

  59. Ok, I’ll give you two story problems to choose from except that you have to explain the difference between the two, in addition to the previous questions. 1. There are 3 miners panning for gold (this really does still happen) and they end up with a total of 7/8 of an ounce. How much is each miner’s share? 2. I have 4 pounds of M&M’s. I want to divide that up into bags containing 2/3 of a pound each. How many bags do I need?
    I’ve actually made this easier for you. Refer to item #56 for the questions you have to answer. I am curious. Can you actually understand and apply mathematical concepts in real life and therefore your opinions are coming from an informed point of view - or, are you merely bloviating. Not to put any pressure on you, but this is 6th grade stuff.

    Comment by Israel — 02.09.06 @ 10:23 pm

  60. There is a lot of truth to the notion that being able to problem solve from many angles should be a goal of education, and is superior to rote memorization. HOWEVER, one has to KNOW something to do it, and this is the part that always gets left in the dust. Texas approved an algebra book, deemed the Texas rain forest algebra book, which was even ridiculed by Robert Byrd and received an F by a group of math scholars. Among other things, it included myths, pictures of Bill Clinton (I won’t go there) and Maya Angelou, and never mentioned algebra until page 100. As one can project, the teacher’s role was to be a facilitator, and right answers were extremely subsidiary to the students’ feelings about trying out approaches to problem solving. This would have been somewhat less lethal if the students knew enough to try some approaches, but Texas students math skills certainly are not up to the test, so to speak. When 90% of all the incoming students into El Paso Comunity colleges have to take remediation in basic reading, writing, and math,(after half of the kids have already dropped out) one can only feel that a little less attention to pedagogy and a little more attention to content would have gone a long way! I just don’t understand why more parents are not more outraged! I really don’t get it.

    Comment by jan brauner — 02.11.06 @ 4:20 pm

  61. Good try at attempting to divert attention from the task at hand. Sigh…
    Your homework assignment: Read Innumeracy - Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences by John Allen Paulos. Also review the the data on how well students in the USA have performed in math during the last 40 - 50 years (you can google this). Also google and find out how much of math instruction in this country is still “traditional” and how much is “new math” and/or “new math” taught “traditionally.” No, I’m not giving you the answers - what would you learn if I did that?

    Comment by Israel — 02.11.06 @ 4:43 pm

  62. Israel;
    You’d save me some time, and I am really busy, and frankly, I’m not in “your” classroom….I don’t know if you noted that I agree that problem solving is superior to rote. But, one has to have a basis to begin…

    Comment by jan brauner — 02.11.06 @ 5:29 pm