CRT in math is unspeakable- thanks for speaking out. However I believe that the math curriculum has been a catastrophe for other ideological reasons for several decades. Teacher’s colleges have been dominated by the lazy idea that fun means easy, and a corresponding contempt for any form of learning that requires repetition for mastery. …
CRT in math is unspeakable- thanks for speaking out. However I believe that the math curriculum has been a catastrophe for other ideological reasons for several decades. Teacher’s colleges have been dominated by the lazy idea that fun means easy, and a corresponding contempt for any form of learning that requires repetition for mastery. This has destroyed not only the math curriculum but the language curriculum. I was a highly non-interventionist parent, until I noticed at the end of second grade that my oldest daughter essentially didn’t know how to read or perform fundamental arithmetic operations. After spending some time with the curriculum I discovered that the math curriculum had entirely eliminated exercises that involved what was considered rote learning, like adding up columns of numbers. Instead they were given entertaining but completely confusing word problems. Generally the answer required skills not yet taught, even algebra, to solve.. Sometimes neither I nor my husband (we both have advanced degrees in mathematical fields) could figure out what was expected of the answer. When we went to the school, some teachers and administrators were themselves frustrated and supportive, while others said “Oh the kids here are so smart they don’t need drills.” We go to a high-performing school that is majority immigrant Asian. Although the kids are indeed bright, it turned out that they were receiving massive amounts of after-school supplementation in both formal classes and parental tutoring . I’ve begun to wonder whether curricular reforms are actually a clever ploy to reproduce class hierarchy by ensuring that no one without that kind of support can succeed.
CRT in math is unspeakable- thanks for speaking out. However I believe that the math curriculum has been a catastrophe for other ideological reasons for several decades. Teacher’s colleges have been dominated by the lazy idea that fun means easy, and a corresponding contempt for any form of learning that requires repetition for mastery. This has destroyed not only the math curriculum but the language curriculum. I was a highly non-interventionist parent, until I noticed at the end of second grade that my oldest daughter essentially didn’t know how to read or perform fundamental arithmetic operations. After spending some time with the curriculum I discovered that the math curriculum had entirely eliminated exercises that involved what was considered rote learning, like adding up columns of numbers. Instead they were given entertaining but completely confusing word problems. Generally the answer required skills not yet taught, even algebra, to solve.. Sometimes neither I nor my husband (we both have advanced degrees in mathematical fields) could figure out what was expected of the answer. When we went to the school, some teachers and administrators were themselves frustrated and supportive, while others said “Oh the kids here are so smart they don’t need drills.” We go to a high-performing school that is majority immigrant Asian. Although the kids are indeed bright, it turned out that they were receiving massive amounts of after-school supplementation in both formal classes and parental tutoring . I’ve begun to wonder whether curricular reforms are actually a clever ploy to reproduce class hierarchy by ensuring that no one without that kind of support can succeed.