The Math Front

We're losing wars on all kinds of different societal influences and societal trends that are adversely affecting our children and youth.  We aren't doing any better on the math front than than we are on the drug front.  Actually, we're doing worse.  A study from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration showed that 17 percent of Vermont high school students had smoked marijuana in the past year.  But the NECAP test results showed that 70 percent of high school juniors were not proficient in math.

Yet some people want to take the same approach to math, which is basically to give in.   Not do away with math altogether, mind you. But lower our standards.

Education experts have an explanation for low math scores.  We need to make math more exciting, they say.  More palatable.  More user-friendly.  Unfortunately, these adjectives are often accompanied by lower standards.  Lower expectations.  And, ultimately, lower achievement.

No.  We need to insist that students sit and learn basic skills. And they need to practice them.  Over and over.  It’s what happens in Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and countless other countries.

Students think they’re being bored.  But they really don’t know what boring is.  Boring is standing in a line in Fort Benning, Georgia for two hours at the position of parade rest, waiting for a pair of size-ten boots.  This is what a friend of mine tells his students.  And I can relate, having been through Infantry School at Fort Benning myself.

Teaching is more difficult today, given all the sources of electronic stimulation that young people have.  But we need to not retreat from high standards.   We can't afford to lose any of these wars. 

Comments

[Lazarus Long]

Math study is boring? Try standing for hours behind a counter saying "you want fries wit dat?"

[Dennis Lukas]

Do you think teaching kids to count with their fingers is working?

[Jon Harrison]

I am astonished by some of the math homework my daughter brings home. And I was shocked to find that counting on the fingers was being taught. The educrats who dream up the methods and study tools seem to be from another planet. And the teachers have very little leeway. That's what happens when a distant, central authority starts mandating how kids should be taught.

[G. Cross]

Basically all text books and most other corporately-sold educational materials are developed to specifications dictated by California and Texas. This is because these two states make very large centralized state-wide purchases. It has been this way for years. So, yes it is "what happens when a distant, central authority starts mandating."

[Jon Harrison]

Thanks for reminding us of that fact, George. I was aware of it. The fact remains that the materials are still approved by educrats. The private sector producers respond to the customers' wishes, at least in broad terms.