Friday, May 25, 2012
is math instruction unnecessary?
John Bennett is a teacher of math and a homeschooling parent who offers a radical-sounding proposal: that we cease to require math instruction in middle and high school. I think he makes some pretty interesting (and provocative) points. What do you think?
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Thanks for that link- I enjoyed hearing his points and agree with him wholeheartedly. I love how he addresses the reasoning skills math instruction aims at developing but often fails... AND he offers an alternative to sharpening that point of our brain-perfect.
ReplyDeletehe makes great points!
ReplyDeleteAs an unschooled-homeschooler all grown up I think this is rad.
ReplyDeleteWow, I'm appalled. This is nothing more than an appeal to the lowest common denominator. Higher math classes in junior and high school help identify and foster students who will become engineers, architects, statisticians, etc. Without higher math classes, we are less likely to successfully develop that small percent of future innovators who contribute proportionally higher to society. It's a slippery slope argument- why stop with math? why not cut music since most students won't need to read music in their "real lives"? Oh wait, most schools already have done that...
ReplyDeleteAs a college professor, I'm constantly dismayed at the inability of many of my students to interpret data (using some higher level math) and perform statistical analyses. In this information age with an abundance of data, it is increasingly important for people to be comfortable with the language of higher math. Will everyone do this well? Of course not. But that's a reason to cut it from public schools.
His point about analytical thinking using games is excellent, however. A class using games to develop critical thinking would be an excellent addition to any curriculum, just not in place of higher math.
amen!! math is the only class i have left to complete my Bachelor's Degree...and I've put it off for four years! I'm realizing now i might have what he refers to as "math anxiety!" And guess what? I've worked successful jobs I never used higher math in (and was an English Literature major)...so why do i need that algebra course? i definitely agree with him, but on a college level as well!
ReplyDeleteI loved this video. I think that it is important and true. When it comes to issues of whether certain classes should be required, I always think of a statement that I read in a John Holt essay: that we will only remember what strikes us as important, what has meaning for us, what we enjoy.
ReplyDeleteTina Z, the reason that John Bennet's solution makes so much sense is because he is not advocating for the complete annihilation of higher math. He is suggesting that it not be required. In today's world, all students ARE required to take higher math throughout middle and high school. These are the "many of [your] students" who are showing an inability to interpret data. This is not because they didn't take those higher math classes. It's because they did not learn from them. They did not carry the information with them. It was not meaningful for them. The percentage of our population who will become engineers, architects, and statisticians will find higher math meaningful for them. They will choose to take those classes. And they will hopefully have teachers like John Bennet who will stop at nothing to make sure that they have the information and the tools necessary to succeed.
I think that John Bennet's message is important for multiple reasons. I love the framing mechanism of his talk: his dilemma of how to truthfully answer that common question, "When are we going to use this in real life?" The reason that students keep asking this question is because they don't ever receive a truthful answer. Teachers refer to the golden ratio (which I find fascinating too, but that's another story). They mention that we may have careers which require higher math. They point out that we may need it to solve problems in our own lives efficiently. And none of this sticks. Because students know that, by the time they reach middle school, they already have those basic math skills. It doesn't take 12 years of math to teach what they need to know in order to successfully function in the world. That being said, if math inspires a person, if math fills a person with passion and joy and they want to learn more more more, then they should learn it. Not because the schools say so, but because their hearts say so.
I think that this is true of everything. The real task that we face is deciding what has meaning for us. The linear plan, the idea that good grades + good SAT scores = good college = good job = money + success = happiness does not generally hold true. As a rising high school senior, making this realization has been one of my greatest struggles. I have, in a huge way, been taught to believe this. And I think that most of the teachers and loved ones who taught me this really meant well. They believed it, too. But there is no magic recipe for life. There is only the courage to go after what we love and need and believe in.
This is so interesting, so I appreciate the share. I don't have a fully formed opinion about all this math stuff, but my two cents anyways: I hated math come 6th/7th grade. HATED it. This was hugely disappointing to my dad, the man who buys old calc books for fun and does differential equations to relax. I tried so hard to like it and get it, had tutors, etc, but it just never stuck. Come college, however, I started to love math. Let me rephrase, I loved math that applied to my desired degree, or I could see would easily apply to real life. I didn't need anything more than basic math skills to excel in stats or accounting. I could rely on what I had learned in 5th grade for the foundation and I was golden. All of the sudden when math wasn't abstract, when I didn't feel like I was doing rote learning, I loved it. Interesting, indeed.
ReplyDeleteAnd nobody realized that he used Math to make his point.... Funny!
ReplyDelete