Although many children do not realize it today, mathematics are one of the most important parts of a child's education. Without math, you can't do anything. Yet the United States, one of the richest countries in the world, is only number 25 out of all the countries in math proficiency. Are we just bad at math, or are we just not trying hard enough? Is it the new methods of teaching mathematics at our secondary schools?
The old model for an Algebra I textbook was to have a page devoted to explaining the day's problem, two or three practice problems it walked you through, a few easy problems, then another few pages with problems to do in class. There were few, if any, "story problems" or "real-life connections" or similar mumbo-jumbo. This seemed to work just fine for most students, who, while not liking the class, passed it, and learned how to do math.
Since NCLB, the United States has switched its curricula from being learning-oriented to test-oriented. No longer to teachers teach to the most advanced student in the class, and try to have the rest keep up. We don't even teach to the average student. We teach to the lowest common denominator, the bottom of the bucket, whatever you want to call it. No matter what word you use for it, it is one of the main reasons American's can't do math.
In my son's Algebra textbook last year, I saw a very... interesting... problem. He was in 8th grade Honors Algebra, so he should be challenged with harder problems. However, I look at his homework one night, and the question is as follows: "Sally, Susan, Brittany, Kate, and Julie are on the basketball team. Kate broke her leg, so she was replaced by Jane. What is the new roster?" How is that supposed to be teaching my son Algebra, when my 3rd grade cousin immediately knew the answer was Jane. When we have this kind of absurd textbook design, how are the textbooks useful?
One of the big ideas right now in math is to have students "discover" the ideas, rather than be taught. All this does is cause frustration for regular students, gifted students, AND parents. Regular students might not understand what is being "discovered", and since it's supposed to be discovery, the teacher cannot help explain. Gifted students can't move ahead in the book, since it is all taught using wonderful characters such as Mr. Brocky, who needs you to prove, using English skills and persuasive writing, that he didn't take a CD from the Big CD Store. Problems like this take away meaning from math. Parent's don't like it, since they don't understand what's going on either, since they were taught using traditional methods that actually teach.
Americans are perfectly smart, and perfectly capable of doing math problems. Unfortunately, we are being hindered by unqualified teachers, bad books, and stupid Education Laws designed to keep the smart kids back so that No Child feels Left Behind.
