From: mccolm@darwin.math.usf.edu. (Gregory McColm)
Newsgroups: sci.math,sci.physics,sci.astro,sci.bio,sci.chem,misc.education
Subject: Re: Is Math Hard?
Date: 8 Nov 92 20:18:59 GMT
Organization: Univ. of South Florida, Math Department

In article <00721013472@elgamy.uucp.taronga.com> elg@elgamy.uucp.taronga.com (Eric Lee Green) writes:
>From article <Bx79Lo.LG1@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>, by hrubin@pop.stat.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin):
>> In article <1992Nov4.044300.15766@cbfsb.cb.att.com> wa2ise@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (robert.f.casey) writes:
>> From the experiences when people who had an understanding of mathematics
>> taught it, most of the children could get some grasp of the subject.  But
>> failure of the attempts to teach the teachers was what killed the new math.
>>
>> Teachers who can only teach rote can only do harm to those who want more.
>
>[...]
>
>> The system is broke.  There is no way that we can get enough competent
>> teachers NOW.  These teachers can only dumb down thinking children.
>           ^^^
>
>Sure there is.
>
>All you have to do is get enough retired engineers, old mathematicians,
>etc., then put them into the schools with adequate curriculum and support.
>What we may need to do is go to the German elementary school system, where
>each child has two teachers -- one teacher teaches math and science and the
>other teaches "soft" subjects. This accomplishes two things -- it gives the
>regular teacher a 2 hour break to recharge and plan for the next day (and
>believe me, we need it!), and it turns math and science into something like
>PE, where one teacher can serve many students (though a typical elementary
>school would need 4 or 5 math/science teachers to serve all its students --
>an added expense that many districts won't want to bear, given current
>administrative costs of having so many extra teachers :-).
>

Having two sets of teachers may be a good idea, and if it 
works in Germany, then we should consider it (what does 
Japan do?).  But ...

1.  This is a organizational cure.  American education has 
a long history of unsuccessful organizational cures (open 
classrooms, team teaching, etc).  My experience with grade 
school teachers is that while some are good in "soft" subjects 
and weak in "hard" ones, it is more common for a teacher to 
be knowledgeable or otherwise in the material, period.  
Our schools that turn out mathematical incompetents are also 
turning out illiterates who know nothing of the world or their 
own history.

2.  As for this particular organizational cure, I think that 
the idea of having one math/science teacher for 50-100 students 
is a VERY bad idea.  If there is one place that American 
education does not excel, it is in P.E.  The varsity sports 
machine may get the publicity, but American students are in 
worse shape than most others in the industrial world.  Our 
P.E. system with its varsity bias, if carried over to math/
science, would generate a few geniuses and an even more 
math-anxious and math-incompetent student body.

-----Greg McColm
--
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