The Sunday, November 4, 2012 issue of the New York Times has an article by the author of The Innovator's Dilemma. On page 3 of the Business Section is "A Capitalist's Dilemma, Whoever Wins on Tuesday" by Clayton M. Christensen. It is a long essay. I believe this is its most interesting comment:
"We can use capital with abandon now because it is abundant and cheap. But we can no longer waste education, subsidizing it in fields that offer few jobs. Optimizing return on capital will generate less growth than optimizing return on education."
Robert
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Saturday, September 8, 2012
The Teacher as Superman
The New York Times is hosting a conference on September 13, 2012, entitled Schools for Tomorrow. The newspaper advertisement for it uses the slogan, "Building a Better Teacher." The website for the conference says, "Today, teachers are expected to be mentors and social workers as well as educators. Sometimes even substitute parents. How do we educate teachers differently to reflect this?"
It might be a mistake to use the schools to solve social problems. If teachers are really supposed to be substitute parents, what happens to the education of children who do not need substitute parents? There was a movie in 2010 called "Waiting for Superman." One person within the movie said that as a child he was waiting for Superman to come and fix the problems in his life. Schools need a prime mission, and if that mission is substitute parenting, then education is a secondary concern. When education is not the primary purpose of a public school system, then skills are increasingly abandoned and we eventually cross a threshold where public schools become agents in the moronization of America. Moronization may be a new word.
Here is a definition I have created for the moronization of America: a downward slide in the skills and mental abilities of Americans that is perpetrated by the public schools and supported by declining popular culture that is leading to a nation of morons (idiots, dolts).
Here is a more general definition: moronization: a downward slide in the skills and mental abilities of a population that will transition that society into a population of morons (stupid people).
What characterizes a stupid person? Stupid (adjective) 1. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 2. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless.
Stupidity is dangerous in our complex and demanding twenty-first century society. If we try and turn our teachers into supermen and superwomen who can fix deficiencies within a community, then education will cease to be the prime mission of schools, our society will become stupid, and our nation will be at risk of collapse.
A twenty-first century education must maintain the academic skill set of the nation, which includes grammar, composition, and mathematics.
Robert
It might be a mistake to use the schools to solve social problems. If teachers are really supposed to be substitute parents, what happens to the education of children who do not need substitute parents? There was a movie in 2010 called "Waiting for Superman." One person within the movie said that as a child he was waiting for Superman to come and fix the problems in his life. Schools need a prime mission, and if that mission is substitute parenting, then education is a secondary concern. When education is not the primary purpose of a public school system, then skills are increasingly abandoned and we eventually cross a threshold where public schools become agents in the moronization of America. Moronization may be a new word.
Here is a definition I have created for the moronization of America: a downward slide in the skills and mental abilities of Americans that is perpetrated by the public schools and supported by declining popular culture that is leading to a nation of morons (idiots, dolts).
Here is a more general definition: moronization: a downward slide in the skills and mental abilities of a population that will transition that society into a population of morons (stupid people).
What characterizes a stupid person? Stupid (adjective) 1. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 2. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless.
Stupidity is dangerous in our complex and demanding twenty-first century society. If we try and turn our teachers into supermen and superwomen who can fix deficiencies within a community, then education will cease to be the prime mission of schools, our society will become stupid, and our nation will be at risk of collapse.
A twenty-first century education must maintain the academic skill set of the nation, which includes grammar, composition, and mathematics.
Robert
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Grammar in the 21st Century
The Wall Street Journal, on June 20, 2012, ran an article entitled, "This Embarrasses You and I," by Sue Shellenbarger. This article appears on the internet under another title, "Grammar, a Victim in the Office." The article describes the decline of correct grammar as more young people join the work force.
The public schools have been abandoning skills. Grammar skills are declining. Math skills are declining. Cursive penmanship is disappearing. There is a tendency to blame Facebook and Twitter for the decline in good grammar, but the public schools have abandoned their duty to educate our children. The young people are not entirely to blame.
In this new century, parents have the added responsibility to watch over their children's education in grammar. For example, I recently pulled some grammar textbooks off the book shelves to give my son a lesson on dangling participles, and on dangling modifiers in general. We cannot rely on the schools.
Being a resident of the Dallas metroplex, I was pleased to hear that Bryan Garner, president of a Dallas training and consulting firm, has written a book on the effective use of the English language: Garner's Modern American Usage.
Whether you are a parent or an employer, you cannot count on the public schools providing young people with the grammar skills expected of educated people. This means that employers will need to administer tests to prospective employees to ensure they have the skills needed to succeed in the workplace. Writing a grammatically correct essay is a skill that can set you apart in the 21st century.
Robert Canright
The public schools have been abandoning skills. Grammar skills are declining. Math skills are declining. Cursive penmanship is disappearing. There is a tendency to blame Facebook and Twitter for the decline in good grammar, but the public schools have abandoned their duty to educate our children. The young people are not entirely to blame.
In this new century, parents have the added responsibility to watch over their children's education in grammar. For example, I recently pulled some grammar textbooks off the book shelves to give my son a lesson on dangling participles, and on dangling modifiers in general. We cannot rely on the schools.
Being a resident of the Dallas metroplex, I was pleased to hear that Bryan Garner, president of a Dallas training and consulting firm, has written a book on the effective use of the English language: Garner's Modern American Usage.
Whether you are a parent or an employer, you cannot count on the public schools providing young people with the grammar skills expected of educated people. This means that employers will need to administer tests to prospective employees to ensure they have the skills needed to succeed in the workplace. Writing a grammatically correct essay is a skill that can set you apart in the 21st century.
Robert Canright
Sunday, April 15, 2012
The Web of Progressive Math
If you go to this link http://soundmath.wetpaint.com/page/Follow+the+Money you can see the web of connections for the progressive math movement. This link was sent by a friend. Thanks to all my friends for sharing their interest in education.
Robert
Robert
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Your Child Left Behind
A few weeks ago the Dallas Morning News ran an article in the Points section: "Your Child Left Behind" by Amanda Ripley. This was a reprint of an article from The Atlantic, the December edition. This was a real eye-opener. It showed America states ranked by academic achievement against other countries. The main point of the article is that no one in American public schools is getting a good education. The schools in Massachusetts, the best in America, rank 17th in the world, just ahead of Slovenia. Canada ranks 12th in the world, Finland, the home of Nokia, ranks 4th, while Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Korea rank 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively.
On the bright side, the Atlantic provides an interactive school comparison tool that shows Texas schools are better than California schools, but since Texas ranks 48th in the world, that is small consolation.
One reason American schools cannot compete against the rest of the world is because they are deluded by a failed ideology called "discovery learning." The Plano ISD embraces discovery learning and Skip Jenkins, the school board president describes it this way: "We don’t believe the teacher should be a disseminator of facts and information. We believe the teacher should be a facilitator of learning.” (The quote is from the Plano Star Courier).
For years I have contended that the best and brightest in the Plano ISD succeed in spite of the elementary and middle school curriculum, not because of it. Now the Lone Star Crescent has published an article by me, "The Secret to Success in the Suburbs," in its December issue, pages 8 and 11.
Our children must compete against the best and brightest from around the world. The surest way to lose in a competition is to be unaware that you are in a competition. The Lone Star Crescent was kind enough to share "The Secret to Success in the Suburbs" with the community, and now I'll share it with my friends and neighbors so we will all know the secret to success in the suburbs.
Robert Canright
------------------------------------------------------------
A good education cannot be taken for granted. It is not enough to buy a home within a school district with a good reputation. You must study the test scores before you buy a home. School district SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) averages are not a good indicator of quality education for several reasons. Some parents will home-school their children or place them in private schools for elementary and middle school, and then place them into the public high schools for AP (Advanced Placement) courses or for the IB (International Baccalaureate) program. This means that high school SAT scores are influenced by private schooling.
A friend of mine in Garland used the combination of a private school and the IB program for his children and his daughter is now at Cornell University. A school district can also steer lower performing children into the ACT test instead of the SAT test and thereby boost the SAT scores. The TAKS test is taken by all the children of Texas and is therefore a better way to evaluate a school district, but even this measure is not the best indication of a quality education. Only close scrutiny by parents can reveal the true quality of education within a school district.
What many concerned parents have discovered is a lack interest by school administrations in teaching academic skills. The schools want to teach critical thinking instead of skills. I have heard one administrator at the Plano ISD use the expressions “drill and kill” and “sage on the stage” to disparage tried and true methods of instruction. I have heard one Plano teacher speak with great excitement about the discovery method she uses in her classroom. The discovery method is where teachers assign problems to students without first instructing them how to solve that type of problem. This technique is also called problem based learning. The discovery method is a proven failure. A book by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., The Schools We Need and Why We Don’t Have Them, explains with great thoroughness how school administrators all across America have sacrificed our children’s education for the sake of failed ideologies.
When conscientious parents discover that skills are not being taught to their satisfaction, then many pull their children from public elementary schools and turn to home schooling or private schools. Many parents in Plano, however, turn to private tutors to provide their children with the skills they need for a good education. Go to Craigslist for Dallas and search on “math tutor Plano” and you will find over forty math tutors listed. Google “math tutor Plano” and you will find pages of hits. My neighborhood coffee shop seems to always have a math or SAT tutor working with a student. Mathematics is one of the ultimate skill based courses and math tutoring provides a clear advantage over students not receiving math tutoring.
The administration at the Plano ISD clings to their failed ideology of discovery learning even when they are faced with clear evidence that their ideology is a failure. Here is an example: at the Plano ISD Board of Trustees meeting on November 2, 2010, the board received an update on the Math Rocks program. The presenter said the children in this program are significantly ahead of their peers and most of these children receive math instruction outside the Plano schools. These are children who get either private tutoring or classroom tutoring outside of the Plano schools, being tutored with the traditional approach of classroom instruction and homework for drilling the instruction.
The PISD administration can see that traditional instruction and drill puts children significantly ahead of their peers who are taught with the discovery method or with Connected Math. But instead of abandoning failed methods, the PISD creates the Math Rocks program that provides yet more discovery method for these advanced students who have raced ahead with traditional instruction. The Math Rocks program is discovery learning with more challenging problems. The administrators at the Plano ISD are like the Marxists who cling to their failed ideology in spite of clear evidence that their ideology does not work. The existence of the Math Rocks program is positive proof that the philosophy of instruction at the Plano ISD does not work, but the Plano ISD administration stubbornly refuses to admit failure and correct their mistakes.
There are still more secrets for success in the suburbs. There are schools that provide classroom instruction and homework as an alternative to private tutoring. Two such schools are Ed Gurukul and the Hua Hsing Chinese school. Ed Gurukul (Ed stands for education) focuses on mathematics instruction, K though 12. They have classes in the evenings, on Saturday and Sunday. Students typically have one hour of instruction, they do homework during the week, and are tested on their progress. Most of their students receive commended scores on the TAKS test. Ed Gurukul makes the Math Olympiads part of their program. Ed Gurukul also promotes instruction and competition in chess to aid in mathematical thinking. Ed Gurukul has facilities in Plano and Irving.
The Hua Hsing Chinese school meets in Jasper High School in Plano on Sunday afternoon. Ten years ago my daughter and some of her classmates were enrolled in math classes at Hua Hsing. The school met at J.J. Pearce High School in Richardson back then. Hua Hsing has been in operation for 25 years. I was very relieved that I could find math tutoring for my daughter. I was in shock at what I perceived to be low skill levels for math in the Plano schools. Plano parents are lucky that the Hua Hsing school now meets in Plano. I spoke with the director at Hua Hsing and learned that parents drive to Plano from Sherman, from Denton, and from Irving for math instruction. There are students from Richardson, Frisco, and Allen, but the majority of their students are from Plano.
Hua Hsing provides math instruction K through 7, algebra, and geometry. They teach math for SAT preparation when there is enough demand. Additionally, Hua Hsing teaches phonics, writing, and SAT preparation for the verbal and writing portions of the test. Hua Hsing students have classroom instruction lasting over one hour. Students receive homework that gets graded, they have a mid-term and a final exam. Some of their students are in the Math Rocks program in Plano ISD. Hua Hsing has science classes and, of course, they have classes on the Chinese language. The Hua Hsing Chinese school has a math contest that is open to the public. The contest has 50 problems and is timed.
For the final push towards high SAT scores, many parents send their children to Karen Dillard’s College Prep. When my daughter graduated from Plano Senior High, the class president joked about all the hours they spent at Karen Dillard’s. A significant number of the National Scholarship winners in the Dallas area are graduates of the Karen Dillard program.
Tutoring is the secret to success in the North Dallas suburbs. For years this has all been known only by word of mouth. Now you know the secret. The beauty of life in America is that you have choices. The difficulty of choices in America is that so many choices require money.
On the bright side, the Atlantic provides an interactive school comparison tool that shows Texas schools are better than California schools, but since Texas ranks 48th in the world, that is small consolation.
One reason American schools cannot compete against the rest of the world is because they are deluded by a failed ideology called "discovery learning." The Plano ISD embraces discovery learning and Skip Jenkins, the school board president describes it this way: "We don’t believe the teacher should be a disseminator of facts and information. We believe the teacher should be a facilitator of learning.” (The quote is from the Plano Star Courier).
For years I have contended that the best and brightest in the Plano ISD succeed in spite of the elementary and middle school curriculum, not because of it. Now the Lone Star Crescent has published an article by me, "The Secret to Success in the Suburbs," in its December issue, pages 8 and 11.
Our children must compete against the best and brightest from around the world. The surest way to lose in a competition is to be unaware that you are in a competition. The Lone Star Crescent was kind enough to share "The Secret to Success in the Suburbs" with the community, and now I'll share it with my friends and neighbors so we will all know the secret to success in the suburbs.
Robert Canright
------------------------------------------------------------
The Secret to Success in the Suburbs
by
Robert Canright
published in the December 2010 issue of the Lone Star Crescent, pages 8 and 11, all rights reserved by Melanz, LLC.by
Robert Canright
A good education cannot be taken for granted. It is not enough to buy a home within a school district with a good reputation. You must study the test scores before you buy a home. School district SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) averages are not a good indicator of quality education for several reasons. Some parents will home-school their children or place them in private schools for elementary and middle school, and then place them into the public high schools for AP (Advanced Placement) courses or for the IB (International Baccalaureate) program. This means that high school SAT scores are influenced by private schooling.
A friend of mine in Garland used the combination of a private school and the IB program for his children and his daughter is now at Cornell University. A school district can also steer lower performing children into the ACT test instead of the SAT test and thereby boost the SAT scores. The TAKS test is taken by all the children of Texas and is therefore a better way to evaluate a school district, but even this measure is not the best indication of a quality education. Only close scrutiny by parents can reveal the true quality of education within a school district.
What many concerned parents have discovered is a lack interest by school administrations in teaching academic skills. The schools want to teach critical thinking instead of skills. I have heard one administrator at the Plano ISD use the expressions “drill and kill” and “sage on the stage” to disparage tried and true methods of instruction. I have heard one Plano teacher speak with great excitement about the discovery method she uses in her classroom. The discovery method is where teachers assign problems to students without first instructing them how to solve that type of problem. This technique is also called problem based learning. The discovery method is a proven failure. A book by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., The Schools We Need and Why We Don’t Have Them, explains with great thoroughness how school administrators all across America have sacrificed our children’s education for the sake of failed ideologies.
When conscientious parents discover that skills are not being taught to their satisfaction, then many pull their children from public elementary schools and turn to home schooling or private schools. Many parents in Plano, however, turn to private tutors to provide their children with the skills they need for a good education. Go to Craigslist for Dallas and search on “math tutor Plano” and you will find over forty math tutors listed. Google “math tutor Plano” and you will find pages of hits. My neighborhood coffee shop seems to always have a math or SAT tutor working with a student. Mathematics is one of the ultimate skill based courses and math tutoring provides a clear advantage over students not receiving math tutoring.
The administration at the Plano ISD clings to their failed ideology of discovery learning even when they are faced with clear evidence that their ideology is a failure. Here is an example: at the Plano ISD Board of Trustees meeting on November 2, 2010, the board received an update on the Math Rocks program. The presenter said the children in this program are significantly ahead of their peers and most of these children receive math instruction outside the Plano schools. These are children who get either private tutoring or classroom tutoring outside of the Plano schools, being tutored with the traditional approach of classroom instruction and homework for drilling the instruction.
The PISD administration can see that traditional instruction and drill puts children significantly ahead of their peers who are taught with the discovery method or with Connected Math. But instead of abandoning failed methods, the PISD creates the Math Rocks program that provides yet more discovery method for these advanced students who have raced ahead with traditional instruction. The Math Rocks program is discovery learning with more challenging problems. The administrators at the Plano ISD are like the Marxists who cling to their failed ideology in spite of clear evidence that their ideology does not work. The existence of the Math Rocks program is positive proof that the philosophy of instruction at the Plano ISD does not work, but the Plano ISD administration stubbornly refuses to admit failure and correct their mistakes.
There are still more secrets for success in the suburbs. There are schools that provide classroom instruction and homework as an alternative to private tutoring. Two such schools are Ed Gurukul and the Hua Hsing Chinese school. Ed Gurukul (Ed stands for education) focuses on mathematics instruction, K though 12. They have classes in the evenings, on Saturday and Sunday. Students typically have one hour of instruction, they do homework during the week, and are tested on their progress. Most of their students receive commended scores on the TAKS test. Ed Gurukul makes the Math Olympiads part of their program. Ed Gurukul also promotes instruction and competition in chess to aid in mathematical thinking. Ed Gurukul has facilities in Plano and Irving.
The Hua Hsing Chinese school meets in Jasper High School in Plano on Sunday afternoon. Ten years ago my daughter and some of her classmates were enrolled in math classes at Hua Hsing. The school met at J.J. Pearce High School in Richardson back then. Hua Hsing has been in operation for 25 years. I was very relieved that I could find math tutoring for my daughter. I was in shock at what I perceived to be low skill levels for math in the Plano schools. Plano parents are lucky that the Hua Hsing school now meets in Plano. I spoke with the director at Hua Hsing and learned that parents drive to Plano from Sherman, from Denton, and from Irving for math instruction. There are students from Richardson, Frisco, and Allen, but the majority of their students are from Plano.
Hua Hsing provides math instruction K through 7, algebra, and geometry. They teach math for SAT preparation when there is enough demand. Additionally, Hua Hsing teaches phonics, writing, and SAT preparation for the verbal and writing portions of the test. Hua Hsing students have classroom instruction lasting over one hour. Students receive homework that gets graded, they have a mid-term and a final exam. Some of their students are in the Math Rocks program in Plano ISD. Hua Hsing has science classes and, of course, they have classes on the Chinese language. The Hua Hsing Chinese school has a math contest that is open to the public. The contest has 50 problems and is timed.
For the final push towards high SAT scores, many parents send their children to Karen Dillard’s College Prep. When my daughter graduated from Plano Senior High, the class president joked about all the hours they spent at Karen Dillard’s. A significant number of the National Scholarship winners in the Dallas area are graduates of the Karen Dillard program.
Tutoring is the secret to success in the North Dallas suburbs. For years this has all been known only by word of mouth. Now you know the secret. The beauty of life in America is that you have choices. The difficulty of choices in America is that so many choices require money.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Disconnecting from Connected Math
There is An Alternative to Connected Math
Parents who care about their children's math education despair when their children are stuck in the Connected Math program. In Plano, Texas, astute parents use a variety of methods to save their children's education. Popular options include (1) private schools, (2) home schooling, (3) moving to Fisco or Allen, Texas, (4) private tutoring, and (5) parental tutoring.
A large number of families in Plano are from Asia and the parents enroll their children in Plano public schools, but send their children to private schools on Saturday or Sunday to study math. Some of these children are years ahead of their classmates and their parents have asked for special classes for them in PISD so they don't waste their time with the curriculum PISD offers everyone else.
The PISD administration knows the district's reputation rides on the backs of star students, so PISD developed a special math curriculum called Math Rocks for those children who have been receiving their math education outside the Plano ISD. Some of these parents take pride in their children being years ahead of their classmates and you will see on page 14 of the Math Rocks presentation that some children will be able to take Calculus in 10th grade, Differential Equations and Number Theory in 11th grade, and then Abstract Algebra and Multi-variable Calculus in 12th grade.
Bravo! If you want to study math at Harvard or Princeton, this is a minimum to compete at the highest level. But notice that this is not Connected Math. Obviously Connected Math is not the best math program or these top-flight students would be taking it. So why do your children get stuck with Connected Math? Is it possible the average student is stuck with an inferior curriculum because the Plano ISD administration does not care about the education of the average student? Might it be that the PISD only cares about the stars who give the district it's reputation for excellence?
The best math students in Plano have disconnected from Connected Math. Why are your children stuck with an inferior program? Clearly there are better choices for our students than Connected Math, but the parents have to find a way to provide their children with the quality math education that the Plano ISD refuses to provide.
Discerning Parents Consistently Oppose Connected Math
For years, all across America, discerning parents have investigated Connected Math and found it deficient.
In Plano, Texas
At Prince William County in Manassas, Virginia
and the State College Area School District in State College, Pennsylvania
Most American parents, however, do not have the math skills to perceive the problems with the Connected Math curriculum. This includes the school administrators who have selected the Connected Math curriculum. Connected Math is taking a bad situation and making it worse; it is increasing the mathematics achievement gap in America.
Taking Action
Parents who appeal to their neighbors during school board elections fail to persuade their neighbors to vote against school board members who accept Connected Math. If we are ever to win elections, we first have to persuade the electorate to care about mathematics.
Perhaps what is really needed is a proselytizing effort across communities to persuade parents that math skills are important, that math can be fun, and that their children will benefit from a more rigorous math curriculum. This would go a long way to improving the quality of education in America.
In the mean time, if your child is stuck in a Connected Math curriculum and you do not want to pull your child from his or her school, then you better find a way to provide your child a good math education outside of the school room. Some suggestions can be found in this blog: Surviving Connected Math.
Robert Canright
PS:
(1). The PISD presentation says this about program entry:
Averaged MAP score > 2 standard deviations above the District mean
3rd Graders: > 3 standard deviations above the mean
What is 2 or 3 standard deviations (sigma)? Here's what Wikipedia says about 3 sigma:
>2 sigma means the top 5%
>3 sigma means the top 0.2%
(2). If you have trouble reading the Math Rocks PDF file with one browser, try another. My Firefox had trouble but Google's Chrome has no trouble. I did fix Firefox by installing the latest Adobe plugin.
Parents who care about their children's math education despair when their children are stuck in the Connected Math program. In Plano, Texas, astute parents use a variety of methods to save their children's education. Popular options include (1) private schools, (2) home schooling, (3) moving to Fisco or Allen, Texas, (4) private tutoring, and (5) parental tutoring.
A large number of families in Plano are from Asia and the parents enroll their children in Plano public schools, but send their children to private schools on Saturday or Sunday to study math. Some of these children are years ahead of their classmates and their parents have asked for special classes for them in PISD so they don't waste their time with the curriculum PISD offers everyone else.
The PISD administration knows the district's reputation rides on the backs of star students, so PISD developed a special math curriculum called Math Rocks for those children who have been receiving their math education outside the Plano ISD. Some of these parents take pride in their children being years ahead of their classmates and you will see on page 14 of the Math Rocks presentation that some children will be able to take Calculus in 10th grade, Differential Equations and Number Theory in 11th grade, and then Abstract Algebra and Multi-variable Calculus in 12th grade.
Bravo! If you want to study math at Harvard or Princeton, this is a minimum to compete at the highest level. But notice that this is not Connected Math. Obviously Connected Math is not the best math program or these top-flight students would be taking it. So why do your children get stuck with Connected Math? Is it possible the average student is stuck with an inferior curriculum because the Plano ISD administration does not care about the education of the average student? Might it be that the PISD only cares about the stars who give the district it's reputation for excellence?
The best math students in Plano have disconnected from Connected Math. Why are your children stuck with an inferior program? Clearly there are better choices for our students than Connected Math, but the parents have to find a way to provide their children with the quality math education that the Plano ISD refuses to provide.
Discerning Parents Consistently Oppose Connected Math
For years, all across America, discerning parents have investigated Connected Math and found it deficient.
In Plano, Texas
At Prince William County in Manassas, Virginia
and the State College Area School District in State College, Pennsylvania
Most American parents, however, do not have the math skills to perceive the problems with the Connected Math curriculum. This includes the school administrators who have selected the Connected Math curriculum. Connected Math is taking a bad situation and making it worse; it is increasing the mathematics achievement gap in America.
Taking Action
Parents who appeal to their neighbors during school board elections fail to persuade their neighbors to vote against school board members who accept Connected Math. If we are ever to win elections, we first have to persuade the electorate to care about mathematics.
Perhaps what is really needed is a proselytizing effort across communities to persuade parents that math skills are important, that math can be fun, and that their children will benefit from a more rigorous math curriculum. This would go a long way to improving the quality of education in America.
In the mean time, if your child is stuck in a Connected Math curriculum and you do not want to pull your child from his or her school, then you better find a way to provide your child a good math education outside of the school room. Some suggestions can be found in this blog: Surviving Connected Math.
Robert Canright
PS:
(1). The PISD presentation says this about program entry:
Averaged MAP score > 2 standard deviations above the District mean
3rd Graders: > 3 standard deviations above the mean
What is 2 or 3 standard deviations (sigma)? Here's what Wikipedia says about 3 sigma:
>2 sigma means the top 5%
>3 sigma means the top 0.2%
(2). If you have trouble reading the Math Rocks PDF file with one browser, try another. My Firefox had trouble but Google's Chrome has no trouble. I did fix Firefox by installing the latest Adobe plugin.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Poetry, John Dewey, and Connected Mathematics
Galileo said, "Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe." I have told this to my son a few times, but the last time I told this to my son he replied, "But Dad, I thought poetry was the language of God." Wow! I was pleased with that sentiment.
In the November 7, 2009, Wall Street Journal I saw this wonderful quote from Dusa McDuff, a mathematician at SUNY Stony Brook about the great Russian mathematician Israel Gelfand: "Gelfand amazed me by talking of mathematics as though it were poetry."
There is something special and transcendental about mathematics. Plato knew mathematics was special, including mathematics and philosophy in his plan for the ideal education for leadership.
John Dewey, the atheist whose ideas are the foundation of contemporary American educational theory, did not believe in any transcendental qualities. John Dewey saw no poetry in mathematics. John Dewey had a distinct dislike for mathematics. John Dewey's dislike for mathematics is the poison in the well that has made American mathematics education the sick child of the world.
It is no wonder that Connected Math is a boondoggle: progressive education is anti-math. My son used to love mathematics. Now that he is in the Connected Math curriculum he has come to dislike math. Having experienced Connected Math I think it is fair to describe it as politically correct (PC) math: what was correct last week is wrong this week.
The Plano ISD lags behind all of its neighbors in the percentage of Exemplary and Recognized schools, and I believe that Connected Math is contributing to the academic decline of the Plano ISD. The Allen ISD, Frisco ISD, and the Richardson ISD all have avoided Connected Math and they all show better results than the Plano ISD.
Plano parents sued the district over Connected Math. You can read some of the depositions here. The parents were right, the administrators were wrong, and it is the children who pay for the blunders of stubborn bureaucrats.
There is beauty in mathematics. I hope my son's love for math will be rekindled once he is finished with the Connected Mathematics curriculum.
Robert Canright
The WSJ quote was from "Russia's Conquering Zeros" by Masha Gessen
Recommended reading: "Method, Social Science, and Social Hope", pp. 191 - 210 in Consequences of Pragmatism by Richard Rorty, 1982.
Specifically, see this on page 204: "Dewey and Foucault make exactly the same criticism of the tradition. They agree, right down the line, about the need to abandon traditional notions of rationality, objectivity, method, and truth.... there is no overarching ahistorical structure (the Nature of Man, the laws of human behavior, the Moral Law, the Nature of Society) to be discovered."
In the November 7, 2009, Wall Street Journal I saw this wonderful quote from Dusa McDuff, a mathematician at SUNY Stony Brook about the great Russian mathematician Israel Gelfand: "Gelfand amazed me by talking of mathematics as though it were poetry."
There is something special and transcendental about mathematics. Plato knew mathematics was special, including mathematics and philosophy in his plan for the ideal education for leadership.
John Dewey, the atheist whose ideas are the foundation of contemporary American educational theory, did not believe in any transcendental qualities. John Dewey saw no poetry in mathematics. John Dewey had a distinct dislike for mathematics. John Dewey's dislike for mathematics is the poison in the well that has made American mathematics education the sick child of the world.
It is no wonder that Connected Math is a boondoggle: progressive education is anti-math. My son used to love mathematics. Now that he is in the Connected Math curriculum he has come to dislike math. Having experienced Connected Math I think it is fair to describe it as politically correct (PC) math: what was correct last week is wrong this week.
The Plano ISD lags behind all of its neighbors in the percentage of Exemplary and Recognized schools, and I believe that Connected Math is contributing to the academic decline of the Plano ISD. The Allen ISD, Frisco ISD, and the Richardson ISD all have avoided Connected Math and they all show better results than the Plano ISD.
Plano parents sued the district over Connected Math. You can read some of the depositions here. The parents were right, the administrators were wrong, and it is the children who pay for the blunders of stubborn bureaucrats.
There is beauty in mathematics. I hope my son's love for math will be rekindled once he is finished with the Connected Mathematics curriculum.
Robert Canright
The WSJ quote was from "Russia's Conquering Zeros" by Masha Gessen
Recommended reading: "Method, Social Science, and Social Hope", pp. 191 - 210 in Consequences of Pragmatism by Richard Rorty, 1982.
Specifically, see this on page 204: "Dewey and Foucault make exactly the same criticism of the tradition. They agree, right down the line, about the need to abandon traditional notions of rationality, objectivity, method, and truth.... there is no overarching ahistorical structure (the Nature of Man, the laws of human behavior, the Moral Law, the Nature of Society) to be discovered."
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