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Yep we really don't have an education problem, we have a failing inner cities problem. One that cannot be solved by looking at education by itself, but rather a multi-pronged approach dealing with the prison system, drug reform, et cetera. Basically a classic intersection problem. Stanos posted:It's really sad to see teachers like Takahashi because it's the EXACT type of people I want teaching but the focus on tests and other problems stifle them. I'm completely terrible at advanced math and the subject is incredibly dry to me and sometimes I wonder if it was just from the rote way it was taught compared to my History and English classes that were far more engaging and interesting. I remember reading an article that I can't find now that goes into 'of course math is loving boring, it's taught in the most boring way possible instead of teaching it like an art form' and I really agreed with it. Do you mean real analysis and beyond? Anyway many people are just going to find math boring and mostly everyone will find the most advanced math incredibly difficult. I found math interesting and the subjects you mentioned to be quite boring so it's most likely just a preference thing anyway. I think I remember reading that article or one like it. The one I read was by the wolfram alpha guy and shocker his suggestion was to use wolfram alpha starting at a young age and stop having kids do anything that could be done with a computer (derivatives integrals, etc. ). I thought his suggestions would be helpful for people that were terrible at math but bad for producing kids that are really good at it. tsa fucked around with this message at 21:57 on Jul 25, 2014 |
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Jul 25, 2014 21:54
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Really the most glaring problem is that we are just now implementing statistics curriculum into middle school and high school. It will be interesting to see how students who go through those classes compare to their slightly older peers who did not.
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Jul 25, 2014 22:10
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computer parts posted:There's been an optional dedicated class to it for forever and some applications (eg, basic probability) have been part of the algebra curriculum for a while now. There's a new curriculum in the pipeline. The current state of affairs is woefully inadequate for how important of a subject it is becoming in nearly every branch of science and beyond. Cantorsdust posted:
I think that's fun, but I'm a math guy. I'd guess a lot of kids would find that just as boring as any other math thing. Actually I know most would because I try those fun things from time to time. At the end of the day math is a very abstract topic and there's going to be a lot of people who either don't get it or aren't interested in abstract things like that. Much like abstract art isn't a lot of people's cup of tea.
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Jul 26, 2014 15:14
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Jackson Taus posted:One of the things that aways annoys me in discussions of Common Core are parents who are somehow engaged enough to throw a fit that their children's curriculum is different from what they learned 30 years ago, but not engaged enough to take 10-15 minutes and figure it out. Like they always circulate these examples where it's like "oh God this is so ridiculous how are our kids supposed to understand this New Math" but the examples make plenty of sense if you look at them for a minute to two, much less if you go over with the kid what the teacher said in class or look at the textbook or online resources or whatever. I'm not shocked at all that parents (who don't want to look like a dumbfuck to their kids) are upset about a radically different system of doing the most basic problems if there was no real effort to explain to parents why the changes were made (and in many cases most of the teachers don't know why either). The problem also becomes even if they understand what is going on numerically in the new method it isn't clear at all why you would prefer that method or why it's better (and there's actually not much evidence it is)*. This is particularly true if that parent was good at math themselves because many people who go on to math heavy careers did in fact pick up the 'old' method naturally, and developed the mental rules new math is trying to show straight away naturally in the course of things. It's really hard to see the point of a new if you don't think there was anything difficult or wrong with how the old worked. Oh and what happens if a parent tries to google how to help their kid with this? They are going to be getting a whole bunch of stories of 'math teacher can't explain new math' or 'quantum physicist can't do simple 'new' math problem' or whatever- the politicization of, well, everything doesn't help of course. Related, there's also lingering memories of new math in the 60's which was an ill conceived reform based on the fear of communism more than anything else. The complaints of parents then weren't much different than the complaints you hear today either, though it was a qualitatively different situation as the math in it was concepts that traditionally you never learn till you are in college or advanced HS math courses. That type of math was more what the wolfram alpha dude is now pushing for- where you use (surprise) wolfram alpha to get into things like derivatives very early in math (which seems misguided as well for a variety of reasons). Dirk the Average posted:I was a tutor and worked with a lot of tutors, and we all had some difficulty understanding Common Core. We knew the math, obviously, and could very easily teach students how to properly solve problems, but some of the examples and methods used were completely out of left field for us, and given that we were getting second or thirdhand knowledge of what was being taught through a student who didn't properly comprehend the lesson (after all, they're in tutoring because they don't get the concept), it was fairly difficult to get quickly. Yep, when people who 'get' math can't quickly or easily see why exactly the methods are done it shouldn't shock anyone that parents are going to get frustrated. emfive posted:In most US states there are very liberal policies about alternative schooling. In Texas for example the statement is flat-out false. Not to speak for them but I'm pretty sure they meant if you want to send your kid to school the public school of their district has to take them with very few exceptions.
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Sep 6, 2014 16:50
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