The Purpose is NOT to Get the Right Answer . . .

"The teacher opened her book and read to me that the purpose of the exercise was not to get the right answer..."

I hope that got everyone's attention. Read on to get more information about this quote from a parent.

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I was only slightly familiar with the American Policy Center. I had heard the name but that was about all. However, I had never heard of "The DeWeese Reports", nor had I heard of Tom DeWeese, the author. Wow! What a little gold mine I have stumbled upon! I recommend this site to all readers. There are many articles worthy of mention here, but I will reference one that discusses the failures of public education.

Tom DeWeese has an article on "ABSOLUTES" entitled "Why is Public Education Failing?" dated December 17, 2007. In this article, DeWeese addresses the source of the problem of that failure. He discusses restructuring of the classroom, block scheduling, cooperative learning, and individual subjects of Math, English, Reading, and Literature. And his direct quote from a book used in classrooms entitled "The Book of Questions" - - well, that quote will just curl your ear!!

His introductory paragraph follows:

"It's a fact. Most of today's school children can barely read or write. They can't perform math problems without a calculator. They barely know who the Founding Fathers were and know even less of their achievements. Most can't tell you the name of the President of the United States. It's pure and simple; today's children aren't coming out of school with an academics education."

He further states about math:

"Perhaps the most bizarre of all of the school restructuring programs is mathematics. Math is an exact science, loaded with absolutes. There can be no way to question that certain numbers add up to specific totals. Geometric statements and reasons must lead to absolute conclusions. . . .

"Instead, Fuzzy Math teaches students to "appreciate" math, but they can't solve the problems. . "

DeWeese goes on to discuss the social and political issues that are pervasive throughout the texts, leaving little if any room or time for important study of the math concepts and procedures. He states:

"In many of these textbooks, there is literally no math. Instead there are lessons asking children to list "threats to animals," including destruction of habitat, poisons, and hunting. . .

Read the entire article here. It includes the entire opening quote which began this post.

And as you pull up the article, be sure to look for the little "More Articles" button at the top right, where you will find many, additional writings on related subjects by Tom DeWeese and other authors, all of whom are brave to take on the education establishment. I will try to pull some up to my sidebar later.

Making Wise Decisions

Take some time to be educated on some of these underlying issues and sources of problems in public education today. The knowledge we glean from these articles will help us make wise judgments about our children's educations. Our students are not able to make these kinds of judgment themselves, and they depend on and trust us as parents to know what's best and to make wise and sensible decisions for them.

Head First, Calculator Second

Wow, did I locate an excellent page on "fuzzy math" procedures and thoughts, entitled "Everyday (Fuzzy) Math is Dumbing Down our Children", written by Ian Shapira. You people in Virginia may have already read Ian Shapira's writings.

Some of his observations about Everyday Mathematics follow:

"There is a 23-page chapter that teaches nothing but how to use a calculator." Shapira goes on to explain his own take on why so much space is used for teaching how to use a calculator: ". . . the odd algorithmic methods taught in the book for solving math problems are so confusing and unworkable that the students must resort to using a calculator in order to solve math problems."

"The most surprising thing is that the total number of pages in the book devoted to teaching algorithms using whole numbers is 11 pages! That's correct! There are only 11 pages in a 400 page book devoted to explaining algorithms using whole numbers. Only 3 of those pages offer instruction on standard algorithms. . . . On page 50 the book states: 'Finding a percent of a number is the same as multiplying the number by the percent. Usually, it's easiest to change the percent to a decimal and use a calculator.'"

"The preferred Everyday Math are crutches. The crutches are needed because the students are not taught the standard algorithms. The lack of skill in standard algorithms ends up crippling their ability to solve math problems without their crutches. The EDM crutches become cumbersome and hold children back when they are later exposed to to more advanced math problems. Their crippled minds are unable to sprint ahead in math, because they trip all over the crutches imposed upon them by EDM."

"One of the alternative algorithms that is a standard method taught in Everyday Math was authored by a first grader!"

". . . students are expected to invent their own algorithms. Adding to the silliness, the authors of Everyday Math expect the children to invent their own algorithms before they are taught any standard algorithms."

". . . The Everyday Mathematics advocates admit that the standard algorithms used for the past 100 years are 'highly efficient'. One might ask: If the standard algorithms are 'highly efficient,' why replace them with invented and other non-traditional algorithms? The reason is that the Everyday Math advocates are not satisfied with a 'highly efficient' method. They want the 'most efficient' method. In their view the most efficient method is 'mental arithmetic or a calculator.'"

There is so, so much here to read. This article helps all of us identify "fuzzy math" programs, whatever they may be named. Everyday Math is only one, and they all do their damage. The sad thing is, once the damage is done, it's very difficult to go back and redo 4,5,8 years of damage.

Is Your Student Being Taught "Fuzzy" Math?

Parents may wonder if their student's math curriculum is "fuzzy" math. Here are some general identifying marks of "fuzzy" math:

1. Very little practice (You might have someone tell you that new studies show that too much drill kills interest in math. That is not true -- it makes students efficient and confident.) Lack of pencil and paper work -- in the "fuzzies' minds it's bad to do a lot of pencil and paper work.
2. Individual problems on the homework are not actually graded. Students are given credit if they show that they "tried" to do it. It doesn't even matter if they successfully solved the problem.
3. Calculators are used to do what children should be learning to do mentally. Some people may even be so bold as to claim that there are students who will never learn all of these math facts anyway. Calculators are said to be sufficient.
4. (Almost exclusively) student-centered activities. Students work in groups to figure out something, and the teacher may not even be involved at all.
5. There will be little or no instructions, certainly no explicit instructions. Activities are student directed and teacher input is lacking. Students are sent home to figure it out by themselves and the next day the class is asked by the teacher if there were any questions.
6. "Real world math" is what it's all about. It's one of the buzz words. After all, who doesn't want students prepared for the "real world".
7. Students are told to write paragraphs explaining all of the steps that are used to solve the problem. Or students are expected to write about how they feel about math. Or as Walter Willaims referenced, students write on such topics as "If Math were a color, what what that be?" In other words, students are writing their math. So much for the benefit of symbols and digits to help solve a problem efficiently, in the least amount of time.
7. Math books are huge, thick books, and pages are filled with visual "clutter" which distract students' thoughts. (For some "adhd" or "add" students, these pages can be a disaster. It is no wonder it takes them 50 minutes to do a 15 minute assignment.) There is a lot of "non-math" content such as photographs in color and motivational stories which are meant to "inspire" kids to greatness, I suppose, but which have no place in the middle of a math assignment.
8. Patterns, patterns, patterns. Looking for patterns, drawing patterns. Probability will be prevalent by 4th or 5th grade. And much time spent on data analysis projects (finding the mode, the mean, the median) starting in elementary school. What is appropriate for a high school course is inappropriate for elementary chldren. The time spent on one "projects" may be days and will indeed use lots of pencil and paper. Notice here: It's OK for them to do pencil and paper work. It's just not OK for me or you to do pencil and paper work on traditional math practice.
9. And here's one dead give-away that the curriculum takes a "fuzzy" math approach:
Students are given problems in one lesson, for which they are not at all prepared. Students spend much, much time on these problems, only to discover that the concept is taught a lesson or two later So if your student has no idea what is being asked, look ahead and you'll probably find that the concept is coming up. This is called "discovery learning" because students have a wonderful opportunity to "discover" the concept on their own. Imagine your 4th grader being forced to "discover" how to do long division with no input from anyone else!!

I'm sure there are more I've overlooked. One more thing that is obvious: Your student is (perhaps suddenly) discouraged, thinks he/she is not smart, gives up trying. I know one student who had been in my 5th grade class and was an excellent and a very diligent student. What didn't come naturally, she learned by shear determination and perseverance. How sad I was to hear that she was threatening to kill herself because her high school math was so hard for her and she didn't think she was ever going to get it. Her teacher's approach was to assign the algebra/geometry lesson, forcing the students to teach themselves, and then ask if any of the stusdents had any questions or problems. If there were no questions, they proceeded on to the next lesson.)

So, do any of these ring a bell to you? Well, if so, you must rescue your student as fast as possible. Go to Kitchen Table Math for insights how a family rescued their own student. It took lots of hours after school, but the results made it worth it.