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Even When We Make the Pie Higher, Our Children Isn’t Learning
Does anyone remember that ubiquitous ad from the ‘70s: "If they would just stay little till their Carters wore out"? I'm humming that refrain today as my oldest gets ever closer to kindergarten and my fears about the state of public education increase. As if all that talk a while back about birth control for middle-schoolers wasn't enough, via Michelle Malkin I've discovered that in some places, elementary-school children aren't learning math in a recognizable form anymore.
"Everyday Math" was developed starting in the mid-1980s, and its authors "believe that it is crucial to begin laying the groundwork for mathematical literacy at an earlier age than offered in traditional programs. ... The authors also firmly believe that children are capable of learning a great deal more than previously expected."
Especially if they use a calculator. Or take a simple multiplication problem and turn it into a "cluster" of five other, simpler problems. Or make a pretty "lattice" box and input numbers. Apparently, like Barbie once said, "Math is hard!" and we have to dumb it down for everyone rather than figure out ways to let the smartest kids excel and provide help to those who need it. This video that Malkin posts is long but well worth watching. The woman in the video--who went back to school to facilitate a midlife career switch and was startled to see the youngsters in her class struggling--shows how bizarre and convoluted this "new new" math is.
As critics are pointing out, kids are not learning better with these techniques. Children aren't learning multiplication in third grade, since they are repeating the addition and subtraction they should have learned in first grade. And check out this sample question from a fifth-grade text:
A. If math were a color, it would be --, because --.
Seriously, that's a math question? It sounds like an Internet-dating questionnaire. (Math also likes walks on the beach and romantic dinners.)
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