It just doesn’t add up.
Modern students unravelling the complexities of the equation 2 + 2
One of the most important reasons for studying history is that virtually every stupid idea that is in vogue today has been tried before and proved disastrous before, time
and again
Thomas Sowell
Once again, American students have fared poorly compared to students in other industrial countries. This is not a surprise; our poor showing has been going on for decades.
The Programme for International Student Assessment announced in March that since 2018, American students saw a thirteen-point decline in math scores. Twenty-eight countries either maintained or improved over the same period, with Japan and Switzerland leading the way. Some critics have referred to our dismal math scores as “a national security threat.”
Why is this happening? Is math harder than it used to be? (No) Are teachers less competent? (Probably) Are new, experimental techniques working? (No) Or has math education lost its way through the destructive labyrinth of wokeism and equity? (Yes)
When my daughter was in eighth grade, the school system purchased Marthland, a $3 million program. The new textbook, all fresh, bright and shiny from the publisher, looked suspiciously thin, like an Oreo cookie with almost no filling. The cream filling of math texts should be instruction on how to do the problems, along with hundreds of problems to work through. But not in Fantasy Land Math.
In the middle of the school year, I sent the following letter to the editor which was published in The Pacific Stars & Stripes, the newspaper serving the American communities in Japan and throughout Asia. (I also wrote a weekly column for that newspaper.)
Dear Reader's Forum, (Edited for brevity).
I'm concerned about the new "Interactive Mathematics" program adopted
by DoDDS (Department of Defense, Overseas Dependents Schools). The introduction to the eighth-grade text book tells us "it doesn't have pages and pages of problems..."
So what does it have?
Pages and pages of colorful pictures.
And conversations of children discussing math.
And poems.
And a few math problems; very, very, few.
There is no homework. There is no instruction about how to do basic math.
There are no practice problems. There are no math tests.
An old T.V ad asked, “Where’s the beef?” For Mathland the question is, “Where’s the math?”
Here are samples of eighth grade "interactive math."
Ø On pages 36 to 43 we find a conversation about "mathematical curiosities" in a popular children's book, "James the Giant Peach."
Ø On page 248 we find a poem about eagles by Shel Silverstein.
Ø On page 212 is a single problem about measuring noses.
Ø On pages 189 - 191 is an article about a girl who baked cookies for a homeless shelter, accompanied by an address students can contact about feeding the homeless.
How are kids tested? They write essays about what they learned. That's right, math is tested by writing essays. My middle school daughter is losing her math skills. Conversations about golf will not prepare her for quadratic equations. Two years without decimals, fractions and long division will destroy her math knowledge. Poems by Shel Silverstein will not help her in algebra.
Marrianne Jennings, a professor at Arizona State University was shocked to discover that her daughter was getting an A in Algebra, but had no clue how to solve an equation. The new math text, was short on math and long on environmental issues. Questions such as "What role should zoos play in our society?," replaces such bourgeois tasks as “show your work.”
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics actively proselytizes for multicultural angles to teach math. Since white, European males are most responsible for geometry and calculus, they have to be put in their place. Ethnomathematics (yes, that really is the title of a book), points out that "Geographically, Europe does not exist, since it is only a peninsula on the vast Eurasian continent...."
What does Europe’s location have to do with math? Nothing. The purpose of that statement is to minimalize the importance of Europe. “Well, yes, I guess, Europe did give us Pythagoras, Euclid, Archimedes, Hypatia, ( more about this extraordinary woman at ANCIENT ROME’S DIVERSITY PROBLEM - by Fred Singer - CRISIS (substack.com) Newton, Leibniz, Descartes, and Einstein, but so what: they all lived on a small peninsula.”
Stretching to find mathematical equivalence in primitives, The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics pointed out, “Quilt patterns and ancient bone cut with marks that may have been used for counting, show that backward peoples knew their math.” The purpose of this information is to extend the modern paradigm that primitives (the oppressed) are just as smart as the civilized (the oppressors).
Take a look at this list of obfuscating, mind-blowing, nonsensical,
mathematical psychobabble.
Ø Our system’s Math Coordinator told me, "(In the past) students were required to learn basic facts and memorize rules..." Well, what’s wrong that? Does he mean students should not memorize math facts like multiplication tables or learn the rules of long division?
Ø The Math Coordinator said further that traditional math students were "passive receivers of rules and procedures." That's nonsense. They actively use the rules to do mathematics. It is not possible to do math without knowing the procedure for, say, multiplying fractions.
Ø "My vision for learning mathematics," wrote the textbook author, David Foster, "includes a student-oriented classroom culture, where students are taking charge of their own learning and are actively engaged in a curriculum that reflects today's world, not the mathematics of 150 years age." In my naivete’, I thought all classrooms were “student oriented.” As far as anyone can tell, two plus two equaled four a 150 years ago. But more to the point, children have no business "taking charge" of their own learning; thirteen-year-olds are notoriously irresponsible, immature and confused as they stumble their way through puberty and adolescence.
Ø Author Linda Dritsas writes, "This program is designed to encourage students to be creative and inventive, while gaining mathematical power." Creativity and inventiveness are not the goals of math. Understanding it and doing it correctly are the goals. Mathematical power has a nice ring to it; it sounds dynamic and forceful. But baking cookies for the homeless and measuring nose sizes are not empowering. Mathematical power means they are able to mentally compute a 25 percent discount on a $67 dress.
Ø Author Barney Martinez writes, "students build their own understanding of math." (This might be the most blindingly obtuse statement in this raging blizzard of nonsense.) How can a student have his own understanding of fractions? Math is math. What if his understanding is wrong? This attitude plays into postmodern, relativism, where 1) we make our own truths, 2) all ideas have merit, 3) right and wrong are subjective, and 4) everything is relative. Hopefully, the next time Mr. Martinez gets on a jumbo jet, the pilot prefers mathematical precision to his own version of reality.
Pilot to copilot: I think if we turn sixteen degrees west, we can avoid that mountain.
Co-Pilot: Are you sure, Captain?
Pilot shrugs: “It feels right, so let’s see what happens.”
How do advocates for fuzzy math defend these programs? Listen to the words of Steve Leinwand, a member of the National Council of Teachers of
Math. Professor David Klein of California State University speaking for 200 mathematicians and scientists, including four Nobel laureates and two recipients of the Fields Medal, math's top honor.
Many of us felt they (Mathland and other programs) are among
the worst programs in existence....lt would be a joke except for
the damaging effect it has on children.
Meanwhile the voices of DEI – Darkness, Equity and Ignorance - push on.
Ø The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) “Examples of classroom actions that allegedly perpetuate white supremacy include asking students to show their work, focusing on the right answer, tracking success, and grading students.” the ODE stated that expanding the ways in which teachers make students explain their question-answering process beyond the written word and numbers could help eliminate racial and language performance gaps.”
Ø The ODE “is supportive of conversations in the larger context identifying beliefs and practices that perpetuate educational harm on Blacks, Latinx, and multilingual students, denying them full access to the world of mathematics…The system of mathematics education…must be evaluated through an equity stance to disrupt inequitable outcomes we currently experience.”
In order to “disrupt inequitable outcomes” you would have to lobotomize the bright kids or dumb down the curriculum until everyone achieves at the same low level. The natural order of human life on the third planet recognizes and accepts differences. Equity means if all children are not achieving at the same level, the system is at fault. Equality of outcome is the (impossible) goal.
Traditional math, which used to emphasize precision, procedures, correct answers, rules, drills, practice, specifics and order, is being replaced by books that skip all of that in order to promote social consciousness,
The debate goes on. Meanwhile, at this very moment, (1996) students in a second grade MathLand class are engaged in a project called Fantasy Lunch in which they draw their lunch, cut it out and put it in a drawstring bag. It’s all make believe.
Post Script: As a parent, teacher, and adjunct professor, I fought my share of education battles. I won a few, lost most, including Mathland. Ultimately, the war was lost. It will take at least a generation to return to sanity.
Some will be discussed in later posts. If readers want a more consistent critique of education, I highly recommend Unskool on Substack.
And they wonder why people are conspiracy theorists. I remember when a homeless advocate claimed two homeless people die every second in America. That's 7200 per hour and about 63 million per year, with the entire population of the U.S. being dead in five years. Do you think any reporters picked up on it?
This is the final exam 8th grade students had to pass in 1895 in Salinas, Kansas.
GRAMMAR (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph.
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of 'lie,' 'play,' and 'run'
5. Define case; illustrate each case.
6 What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation..
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.
ARITHMETIC (Time,1 hour 15 minutes)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. Deep, 10 feet Long, and 3 ft. Wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs, what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1,050 lbs for tare?
4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6,720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7percent per annum.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft long at $20 per metre?
8... Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.
U.S. HISTORY (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus .
3.. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States ...
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.
ORTHOGRAPHY (Time, one hour) * Do you even know what this is?
1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication?
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u'.
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7 Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.
GEOGRAPHY (Time, one hour)
1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas ?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America .
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia , Odessa , Denver , Manitoba , Hecla , Yukon , St.. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco .
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each..
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.
This is a telling example of how education has evolved over the years.
https://www.creativitypost.com/education/can_you_pass_this_final_8th_grade_test