Dear Jim and All,
I have had another look at the National Mathematics Advisory Panel
(NMAP) final report and I am even more surprised and perplexed than I
was before.
The Final Report can be found at www.ed.gov/mathpanel and the press
release is available at http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/
2008/03/03132008.html.
You may recall that the NMAP final report did not mention:
the metric system
the International System of Units
meters (or metres)
grams
liters (or litres)
But neither did it mention inches, feet, yards, or furlongs. The only
measuring words that I could find were 'miles per gallon' and these
words were mentioned only once and they appeared in this context:
**
Mathematics literacy is a serious problem in the United States.
According to Philips (2007), 78% of adults cannot explain how to
compute the interest paid on a loan, 71% cannot calculate miles per
gallon on a trip, and 58% cannot calculate a 10% tip for a lunch
bill. Further, it is clear from the research that a broad range of
students and adults also have difficulties with fractions (e.g.,
Hecht, Vagi, & Torgeson, 2007; Mazzocco & Devlin, in press), a
foundational skill essential to success in algebra. The recent
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, “the Nation’s
Report Card”) shows that 27% of eighth-graders could not correctly
shade 1/3 of a rectangle and 45% could not solve a word problem that
required dividing fractions (U.S. Department of Education, 2004).
Labor economists Richard J. Murnane and Frank Levy have spoken to the
vital importance of mathematical skill (Murnane & Levy, 1996):
Close to half of all seventeen year olds cannot read or do math at
the level needed to get a job at a modern automobile plant. Barring
some other special knowledge or talent that would allow them to earn
a living as, say, a plumber or artist, they lack the skills to earn a
middle-class paycheck in today’s economy.
**
The last of these paragraphs stunned me because I know that the
automotive industry in the USA is almost totally metric and it has
been largely metric since the mid 1970s.
How can you have a mathematics education policy that does not even
include a single reference to the metric system when probably many
more than half of the current crop of school students will work using
metric units in the domestic industries of the USA? Lorelle Young,
the president of the United States Metric Association estimated, a
few years ago, that industry in the USA was then more than 60 % metric.
Where will children learn to measure using the metric system if the
'National Mathematics Advisory Panel' specifically leaves out any
reference to the modern metric system when they advise on policy for
USA schools?
How can you have "a domestic technical workforce with adequate scale
and top-level skill" when absolutely no guidance is given by the
nation's mathematical leaders about units of measurement?
On 2008/03/15, at 10:28 AM, James Frysinger wrote:
That's an impressive statistic, Pat. Your previous email on this
subject (but with no subject line entry) was USMA:40565. That
forwarded a list of emails that NMAP had received. But that list
did not include the submissions that were read to the panel in person.
I find little to hope for in this. The NMAP struck me as being
rather deaf on the subject of the metric system, both during my
presentation and in their interim reports. On the day I attended
and presented, the bulk of the questions asked and comments made by
the panel had to do with proposed commercial education packages. We
have seen these "miracle cures" marching down the road for years,
in a steady stream, for their chance to drink deep at the public
money trough. Apart from that the only interest by the panel seemed
to be when to start teaching algebra. In short, the NMAP seemed
more focussed on methodology (especially the procured sort) than on
content.
Perhaps I will be pleasantly surprised when the report comes out on
Tuesday. I hope so.
Jim
Pat Naughtin wrote:
Dear Marion and All,
You might be interested in the fact that the National Mathematics
Advisory panel:
… reviewed written commentary from 160 organizations and
individuals … and 30 of these submissions (19 %) were about the
teaching of the (SI) metric system in USA schools.
On 2008/03/15, at 6:25 AM, m. f. moon wrote:
Pat, great comment. Without going into great detail of the
problem, I got
myself into a bit of difficulty when during a discussion on a
standards
specification, I suggested that a certain equation may not be
correct. I was
assigned to study the problem over night but didn't have a
calculator nor
computer with me. I choose to do rational arithmetic which
handled the
boundary conditions with ease -- this is where I thought the
problems might
be. A couple of quick calcs showed the intermediate values to be
correct also.
So, my claim was wrong but the method of solution was unusual for
most of the
other standards committee members but persuasive. Who needs
fractions?
marion moon
------ Original Message ------
Received: Fri, 14 Mar 2008 02:42:37 AM PDT
From: Pat Naughtin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>>
Subject: [USMA:40565]
Dear All,
Here is a copy of the 30 submissions that the National
Mathematics Advisory Panel (NMAP) received with reference to
teaching of the the metric system in the schools of the USA.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has
helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the
modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they
now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for
their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many
different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial
and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA.
Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST,
and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See
http://www.metricationmatters.com/ for more metrication information,
contact Pat at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or to get the free
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