So why bother trying to teach it properly?
Many of the comments therein are most enlightening:
As a current teacher in a GTA school, Margaret is totally correct about this. It’s idealistic, but sickening and hurts the weakest students who will leave school with no math knowledge. We are inundated with workshops and initiatives in this direction. But please understand it comes from the trendy ‘educators’ writing books and seized on by the boards and education profs trying to be innovative. The unions are too busy with ‘equity’ issues and for them, the numbers do matter.
I’m telling everyone right now that when the school boards or ministry of education people tell you about what a great job that they’re doing, don’t believe it. . . . We see students who cannot add single digit numbers without a calculator, who have no idea how to calculate the area or circumference of a circle, who do not know how to read a tape measure, and in some cases who do not even know how to use their calculator. I would estimate that their academic level is about on par with a elementary school grad from a generation ago. . . . it’s as if they’ve never even attended high school!
Yep – that’s right – the only kids that can do math are the ones taught after school. I had grade 10 students who had no idea what a quarter teaspoon plus a quarter teaspoon was. This was in cooking – how much more practical can you get than that? It’s exasperating. We really do need to throw the school boards out and start all over.
Poor performance in math and science is really going to hurt us economically. How can we ever compete with countries who actually put an emphasis on education fundamentals?
Thankfully there may be a ray of light into a smarter future. Otherwise we may be faced with a lot of this on a much larger scale.
Robert: I have seen grade 12 students who could not make change when the till was down at the Co-op.
So where are the mothers of these tykes? I was taught arithmetic by my mother and grandmother.
And the school I went to in Ottawa at the time, was fairly good, way better than most public schools now.
Reading? School was OK but my Mom encouraged me to read, comic books, whatever – but mainly I read (most of) the Thornton W. Burgess wildlife books.
My mother also read to me – Thornton W. Burgess, the Wizard of Oz, Hardy Boys, and finally, when I was 12, The Tempest.
Education is too important to be left to teachers (as Cato remarked many years ago).
Or to professors.
Hear! Hear! As a former teacher with no desire to return to the classroom, I can tell you the classroom teacher’s hands are tied. Tied by currently trendy pedagogy taught in Education Colleges by people who have never spent more than a few hours in a classroom, who have never had to actually test their ideas in the real world, by school boards and provincial departments of education that have swallowed this guff and prescribe it in the curricula that teachers have no choice but to follow and by parents who blame the teachers for everything little Johnny won’t do because he knows his parents will side with him rather than the teacher and on and on.
I have 3 kids in their 20’s and a 9 year old. This is exactly the case with the 9 year old. The teacher says she is just teaching the curriculum. It is, along with ‘whole reading’ the stupidest thing I have seen in curriculum.
The way they are teaching it now is confusing, time consuming and does not help a kid know 7X6 in .05 seconds. It takes minutes to pick the ‘strategy’ and work it out.
AAAAAAAAHHH!!
I really, really, really dislike public schools.
Began tutoring my child in grade 1 with reading and will continue with math. I intend to keep any receipts over the course of his education and send Alberta Ed. a bill after grade 12 grad.
I’m past the point of wondering why educrats have declared war on math and reading. Teaching it yourself is the only way you can be sure they are learning the necessary skills. I expect that science will be another area that will succumb to this new “discovery” education fad.
Thankfully, basic math is an easy and fast subject to teach. If your kids like computer games then try Math Blaster or Timez Attack. My oldest two prefer to compete against each other in “drill and kill” timed worksheets with a small prize going to the winner. The time involved is less than a half hour per day.
For a complete homeschooling course, Saxon Math, is my favorite but there are lots of others.
If anyone is interested in improving math education they should read the book The Myth of Ability by John Mighton.
He has also started a Math program called Jump Math. It is a fabulous way of teaching Math that truly works for all students.
I have been using this year in grade 3/4, and I’m blown away that every single student has been successful this year!
no idea how to calculate the area or circumference of a circle”
That was the skill I was teaching Grade 8 students during my elementary placement. First we did it the modern way, then we spent hours getting it out of their confused heads and just teaching them the formula. They were so relieved when they saw how simple it was.
nothing funnier than some “kid” banging on a calculator, and then getting told his/her answer is wrong, because I out performed them without a “device” :-))))
Does it explain why? – when last summer, I went to Canadian Tire for 60 feet of rope, the nice young 18ish boy took the rope in his hands, stretched it out on a foot-square floor tile and began counting … one foot at a time!!
When I realized what he was doing, I said – why not count out 10 squares and lay out the rope 6 times. At first he was baffled but then quickly realized how easy and accurate this method was. I asked him what they teach you kids in school these days? He looked right at me and said – they teach us f-all.
I blogged on this a while back: http://www.doggerelparty.ca/2011/12/brave-new-math.html. I’d like to get a WiseMath type group going in Ontario so if anyone from Ontario wants to help out, feel free to drop by the Doggerel Party and leave an email for the corgis. Who, by the way, can count, add and multiply treats. Division? Corgis don’t need no stinking division, that only makes treats smaller.
I too have been tutoring my daughter in math, just as my mother did with me and my siblings. It’s been a long time since my grade thirteen math courses, so helping with grade 9 math is sometimes a stumble down memory lane. However, some wonderful commenter on SDA recommended the online Khan Academy videos for help with math. It’s a math tutorial gold mine for me and my daughter.
John Lewis at 4:12 p.m. – I enjoyed Thornton W. Burgess books too, as does my daughter. My 3 month old grand daughter is getting a boxed set of these stories for Christmas.
Keep up the good work, you parents who are monitoring your child’s education. Your hours of dedication to homework will be much appreciated in the future.
ron in kelowna,I hear you.
Also ,there is someone here who told about how cashiers cannot make change.
I was buying a piece of pipe . I wanted 4 feet. The ‘sale associate’ asked ‘we sell it in metres.how much is that in metric’.I replied;” I don’t know”,and I didn’t I know it’s 48 x 2.54,but the easiest answer was ‘ I don’t know”.
He sighed,and gave me that vacant ‘occupy’ look,”wow,I don’t need this,old people are so like old”. He took out his calculator,I interrupted,and said the ‘Tape measure has two sides,one metric,and one in inches,measure 48 inches and then look at the other side”.
“Oh,I suppose that would work”.
I leave that ,smiling. Go to the cashier and my purchase add up to $30.18. I give her two twentys and a quarter.She gently pushes the quarter back and tells me that she doesn’t need that. I stared at her,smiled and said nothing.
They aren’t all bad,but wow,it’s not getting any better. I lived in B.C. years ago,and was constantly frustrated by the ‘flakes’. Their numbers are growing. It’s a pity.
And to add to the above foolishness,when the kid measured the pipe ,it wasn’t an exact number,so he asked if he should cut lower or higher. Maybe he was doing it out of ‘customer coutesy’but I doubt it. The thought that it would be easier for me to cut it at home rather than add on,likely never occurred to him.
A friend sent this to me yesterday. So sad. So true.
1. Teaching Math In 1960s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit ?
2. Teaching Math In 1970s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?
3. Teaching Math In 1980s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80.. Did he make a profit ? Yes or No
4. Teaching Math In 1990s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.
5. Teaching Math In 2000s
A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong answers, and if you feel like crying, it’s ok).
If you thought that the purpose of school was to educate your chidren you might be mistaken.
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/index.htm
The children are our future….
@ rindlrad
That was so funny, but then it sinks in…….it’s true.
All is explained!
A few years ago, I entered a Starbucks here in Vancouver to join my wife and daughter.
One of the clerks exclaimed to another, “oh migawd, here comes the BLEND” which had said wife and daughter rolling on the floor.
You see, at another location, some bright young thing recommended a 50-25-25 blend of three different coffees. Not one clerk, at any location over several months, knew, even with a calculator, how to factor the differential weights and prices to arrive at a correct aggregate price for the pound of coffee. In time, I abandoned THE BLEND as the whole affair was too stressful.
This has been going on for years. It’s called constructivist math. From what I understand, the teaching method works for very bright children but it does not well serve those of average or below average intelligence.
It is not unusual for those charged with teaching mathematics in the elementary grades to have no training whatsoever in mathematics beyond rudimentary high school level algebra. Some don’t even come equipped with that. They are therefore dependent on school board curriculum experts to tell them what and how to teach. In other words the same people who can’t make change and don’t know how to measure are produced by the same education system that graduates accredited teachers.
Since they don’t have a feel for the language themselves, they don’t really know whether or not what and how they are teaching is having any measurable impact on their student’s learning. They are following the curriculum. They have done their jobs. It’s not their fault that students are not able to construct math concepts for themselves.
High school mathematics teachers (the ones who actually graduated with a degree in a related field before becoming teachers) have been complaining about the poor level of math preparation in incoming students for quite some time.
We opted out two years ago when half way through the year, my daughter returns home with her grade nine English assignment on “how to capitalize” – things she had learned in grade three in the UK. My kids now attend a private boarding school and are in an IB program not run by pasty skinned provincial bureaucrats. My children are my future and I pay for it willingly.
BTW if you do undertake to teach math to your children, DRILL THEM with the times tables.
Weakness in multiplication will sabotage all their future maths studies. It would take a while to explain why, but it is so.
I once took a younger relative from failing in math (and misery, because she was and is intelligent) to a 75% average (and satisfaction) mainly by multiplication drill.
The drill can be very unstructured – my usual morning greeting to her for about a month was, “Hi C**n, what’s 3 times 7?” with obvious variations.
And be sure to teach them the 13 times table. Then they will then be identified as Newfoundlanders (who do learn up to 13 times 13).
The half-baked efforts to teach arithmetic from some garbled misunderstanding of the Peano set-theoretic axioms for arithmetic give me a pain. And it always fails.
The problem is the curriculum. Best thing ever is to complain to your MLA about the curriculum. They pass on their discomfort to the hired bureacrats who wrote it, love it and guard it like Gollum guards Precioussss.
In all fairness, before math started evolving in the late 60s, only about 1 in 100 people could muddle through any sort of equation. Only 1 in 500 could multiple 2 digit numbers in his head. Only 1 in 1000 could understand calculus. Things haven’t really changed much. The goal was to help students understand concepts, even if they can’t memorize and manipulate formulas. It isn’t working all that well, for the 999. None of the formulas, methods, etc. have been lost, so there’s nothing to panic over. BTW, those Asians who seem to be beating our kids in math? They’re the 0.1%. Do the math, 100 million Asian students= 100 thousand geniuses. And most of them come to school over here.
In practical terms, all of this shows the need for competition in schools. That way, methods that fail would quickly be relegated to the trash can, instead of left for years to do monumental damage to year after year of students. We need a voucher system. Unfortunately there are advocates of going in the opposite and wrong direction, such as cutting funding for the Roman Catholic separate schools in Ontario.
Half of the “education experts” who foist all the garbage on the public schools are Marxists who are deliberately trying to dumb down the populace, the better to rule over later (you can read more in Ayn Rand’s essay The Comprachicos). Marx’s philosophy was based on Hegel’s which in turn was derived from Kant’s. The latter was described by Rand as a concerted attack on man’s conceptual faculty. Since the ideas formulated in the ivory towers eventually trickle down to the street, you can blame the “intellectuals” who have turned against the intellect for any epidemic of mindlessness in society. When they babble about “mindless consumerism” or whatever, they’re blaming their own victims.
Yes, it’s got everything to do with the curricula in this “deranged dominion” (h/t, Mark Steyn). I wrote the following here a couple of weeks ago when there was another thread about math instruction:
“CURRICULUM: shallow and way too wide (most often, not even developmentally/pedagogically appropriate), when it should be narrow and deep. The kids have no time to learn the basics to mastery. E.g., Primary students spend an inordinate amount of time on things like probability when they don’t know their number facts. IMO, the majority of their time should be spent on numeracy. Once the basics are hard wired, add the other areas. In their defence, teachers are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the curriculum: that alone seriously undermines their ability to provide what their students really need.
“Our ministries, boards, and administrators need to smarten up. Fat chance.” (They’re fat cats: their salries are HUGE. Rocking the boat’s not on the horizon for these shameless sellouts.)
They dont want people good in math
Sure Coach. Just stick to the script.
Nothing good is going to happen in education until the teacher’s unions are humbled or destroyed, there’s a more equitable ratio of male to female teachers and the bureaucratic vermin that are infesting the industry are gone.
Modern education completely ignores the “magic” and the inherent rhythm of numbers – really not much different from music
I’ve noticed over the years that folks who are musically inclined are also very proficient at math, and vice-versa. Anecdotal evidence I’ll admit, but consistent with my experience.
I recall how math was taught in my elementary, junior and high school classes – rote, droll, dry and hopelessly boring
That said times tables drills are essential – and I maintain we shouldn’t stop at 12X – go to 15X. After that they just become repetitive
Had one teacher in grade 10 who brilliantly explained how interest on borrowed money really works – both simple and compound. I recall his comments vividly; sadly his creative lectures just flew over the heads of most others in the class
Re “Arty'”s remark: don’t go after the teachers (first), go after the Departments of Education. THEY set the curriculum; the teachers merely follow it.
That is the Mike Harris fallacy. Harris could have improved Ontario education immensely just by walking over to his Department of Education
and telling the top bureaucrats there to empty their desks. Instead he embarked on a long and not very fruitful campaign of gnawing away at the teachers.
Re “Paul”, yes, maths and music seem to be closely related.
Most mathematicians and physicists are musicians. I remember reading somewhere that Mozart’s best school subject was mathematics – arithmetic and geometry.
Geez…at 62, I think it is time for me to board the geezer bus…
In school, they taught us penmanship, math (the old, reliable way) history (gasp), spelling and grammar and other relevant subjects that might possibly prepare us for the real world.
Now…not so much.
When my son was in high school I examined his “approved” compositions and was appalled at the gramatical and spelling errors, and was told by his teachers “Don’t worry…we’re interested in the ideas…the spelling and grammar will come later”.
Well here is a surprise…they didn’t come!
So now I find myself functioning as a tutor to a young man who is otherwise very intelligent, but lacks the writing skills to engage some of my clients who are successful accountants and lawyers.
The public education system…you SUCK…