When our 12-year old was in 3rd grade, he brought home some math homework. One
of the problems asked something like, "15-7". He reached for his calculator,
and I stopped him. I said, "You know the answer without your calculator." He
said, "Yeah, it's 8, but the teacher said we have to use a calculator."
We have many people teaching at the elementary school level BECAUSE their choice
of a major was influenced by their lack of quantitative skills. This affects
how they teach simple math concepts and what types of textbooks they need to
use. We can look forward to even more math illiteracy, more math illiterate
teachers, and so on, and so on . . .
This year, our son started 7th grade and, after seeing a ridiculous assignment,
I checked into the textbook. It is the, "Connected Math" curriculum, which is
endorsed by the U.S. Dept. of Education. For a review of this program, which
might provide some answers to the question, "Why is stat class so hard?", see:
http://mathematicallycorrect.com/books7a.htm
--
Beth Benoit wrote:
> We are raising a generation of college students who can't divide 7 into 6
> without a calculator? I've long become accustomed to handing a sales clerk
> $1 for a 99� item, and watching as he/she looks at the cash register display
> a second time to be sure that the appropriate change should be 1�, but in
> college??
*****************************************************************
* Mike Scoles * [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* Department of Psychology * voice: (501) 450-5418 *
* University of Central Arkansas * fax: (501) 450-5424 *
* Conway, AR 72035-0001 * *
********* http://www.coe.uca.edu/psych/scoles/index.html ********
