Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Latest evidence: U.S. not up to par in math
Writing about a new study, the New York Times says American culture does not value math and therefore our kids’ math skills do not compare with cultures that do. This is particularly damaging to girls. The study found girls with exceptional math talent are rarely identified early and their skills are not nurtured. As a result, professional women in the U.S. who have jobs requiring high level math skills are almost always foreign born.
This stunning report comes from the American Mathematical Society. I must tell you, I feel this effect in my experience. As a non-math oriented professional, my own math skills don’t extend much beyond the elementary. I can help my three daughters with subjects like English, history and to some extent in science, but I end up on shaky ground pretty quickly in math.
My sense is the top math students at my local elementary are getting a lot of extra help at home from math oriented parents. But I am relying on the school for that, and I am not sure it will be enough for my daughters to make it professional in high tech fields. At school, math instruction seems to remain at a pretty elementary level. This is troubling, because those jobs pay well and I’d like them to have that as an option.
What is your experience with math instruction?
Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment | Categories: Teaching and Learning
Comments
By Rick
October 19, 2008 11:29 AM | Link to this
One of the reasons that American students do so poorly overall is that they spend so little time on the fundamentals. In the Springfield Schools blow reporter Megan Gildow reports the following: The Clark County Combined Health District will present the “Every 15 Minutes” program at Northwestern High School tomorrow. The program, based on the concept that every 15 minutes someone dies from an alcohol-related traffic collision, starts with a mock crash tomorrow at 9 a.m. For the remainder of the day, a student will be “taken” from class — by a Grim Reaper — every 15 minutes. At 6 p.m., there will be a lock-in at Wittenberg University and the program will end with a mock funeral Friday morning. What a tremendous waste of time. This is a job for parents. They are going to take more than a day for this.By Dave
October 15, 2008 11:50 AM | Link to this
I was fortunate, in that I had a couple of teachers who liked teaching math and were quite talented at it. My kids were not as fortunate in that respect, and as my wife points out to me, math books today do not explain ideas nearly as well as they did in the 60’s and the 70’s. They have more pictures “to grab the student’s interest”, but the pictures are not relevant. She ended up pulling out her old textbooks (in her state, you had to buy your textbooks and she saved the math ones) and using them to tutor the kids.By Lea
October 15, 2008 10:21 AM | Link to this
I took one math class in college - basic stuff - and besides mid-terms and finals, we had to write a paper. I chose Blaise Pascal. Now wait - write? I do use basic algebra daily but have learned far more math since college. So yes, we’re WAY behind. But my fourth grader is working on pre-algebra, which is pushing it…By FINALLY!
October 15, 2008 9:22 AM | Link to this
Math instruction remains low because many elementary teachers are themselves not that good at math or are not that strong at the pedagogy of teaching it. This is NOT a knock on elementary teachers: most primary grades teachers are excellent at reading instruction — and that’s just as important — but are not as strong in math. The problem trickles up. By the time students are in middle school and are taught by “highly qualififed” math specialists, they still haven’t mastered the basics… so more time is spent trying to get students caught up… add to this that most middle grades students aren’t that interested in learning ANYTHING that doesn’t involve music and you see the problem. SOLUTION: hire more math teachers (I know they’re hard to find, but they’re out there), place them throughout the grade levels and cut class sizes in grades 7-12… by half. This will lead to improvements.By Mary
October 15, 2008 3:50 AM | Link to this
Well, this article seems to validate what I have been saying - academic achievement gets much less support than sports achievement in our culture. I’ll bet Melanie got a lot more encouragement from her private school and college in cheerleading than she did for her math skills. My public school was no different, and I liked math and was relatively good at it. I was so underchallenged I never learned how to study until my fourth year in college as I was wrapping up an aerospace engineering degree. Flash forward a few decades and my son who was also a whiz at math had superficial encouragement with Math Counts. My daughter had much less encouragement for her high scores in science than she did for drill team competitions. Curriculum is more important than competitions. I think of academic competitions as trying to mimic sports or counterbalance the gaudy trophy collecting in our culture. I do not think really smart people need all the recognition. It is just that we overdo recognition, celebrity, and circus with other talents. That creates a lot of unnecessary noise in our culture, schools and colleges. Academics is by nature a “quiet sport” with an emphasis on results and cooperation, not competition.By Concerned Mom of 3
October 14, 2008 10:43 PM | Link to this
Math instruction has drastically changed since I was young. When my children need assistance with their math work, I am usually able to help them IF they bring home the book. I have to rely on reviewing the lesson before I fully understand the concept and the method the child is supposed to use to solve the problems. I agree that the top math students do have to have support at home. All I have to say is that I am thankful my husband is a wiz in math. He doesn’t need the book. My kids are at an advantage because of him- not because of me.