60 Years Of Math Education History In The U.S.

[MarkFL]

60 Years of Math 1956 - 2016 (in the USA )

1.) Teaching Math In 1950s:

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100.
His cost of production is 4/5 of the price.
What is his profit ?

2.) Teaching Math In 1960s:

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100.
His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80.
What is his profit?

3.) Teaching Math In 1970s:

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100.
His cost of production is $80.
Did he make a profit?

4.) Teaching Math In 1980s:

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100.
His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20.
Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

5.) Teaching Math In 1990s:

A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands.
He does this so he can make a profit of $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong answers, and if you feel like crying, it's ok.)

6.) Teaching Math In 2000s:

Un hachero vende una carretada de maderapara $100.
El costo de la producciones es $80. Cuanto dinero ha hecho?

7. Year 2016:

Who cares, just steal the lumber from your rich neighbor's property, he won't have a gun to stop you, and the President says its OK anyway 'cuz its redistributing the wealth, so forget about the math.

 

[psalms 91]

Sounds about right

 

[Stravinsk]

I liked the post because I thought it was humorous but I thought maybe a bit exaggerated.

I'm unfamiliar with any measurements or standards that are applied nationwide in mathematics for US State schools. Is the kind of thing illustrated reflected in an actual lowering of standards by clear directive of some educational body or institution and/or does it represent a greater sampling of tests in mathematics for State run schools?

 

[MarkFL]

It was intended for humor only...I found it elsewhere, and updated the timeline a little.

I can offer just a little of my own personal experience. I occasionally help an 11 year old student living in Singapore. Some of the problems he is given to study takes me a good deal of time and consideration to solve. I also sometimes help my 17 year old niece with problems I could have solved in my head when I was 10.

I have seen that a lot in my time spent helping students online, from the global community...many nations expose their students to mathematical concepts many years before it is attempted here. More emphasis is given to critical thinking in other nations too.

 

[Lamb]

Cute!

Here is the US classrooms tend to hold back a lot of kids because of the few who can't move along fast enough. So, they all remain behind except for the few who have parents who help at home. With the introduction of technology into the classrooms I hope that this changes so that those who pick up mathematics easily can advance without having to wait to move on.

 

[Ackbach]

You forgot the New Math version, hehe. You'd have to talk about the set of loggers, and the set of costs, and the set of profits, etc.

I'm actually not in favor of technology in the math classroom much, except maybe at the college level. Why? Because in order to get the right answer, you need to have multiple independent ways to solve the problem. Technology is only way. As one physicist said, "Never calculate anything unless you already know the answer."

Finland does very well in mathematics, because they focus on the basics, and they don't try to teach too broadly. I think that's another thing we need: depth not breadth. Don't be tempted to throw in the kitchen sink. One great example of this is when textbooks want to teach all five forms of the equation of a line (or however many there are). Don't do it! Just do slope-intercept, y = mx + b, and you're good. Everything you can do with a line, you can do with that form of the line. So we need to prune, prune, prune.

By the way, I recently taught math, physics, and logic at classical Christian schools for 3.5 years, so it's fresh on the mind, you might say.