Subject: The Evolution of Teaching Math, my neighbor sent me this

[madokie]

Sorry, Hope I didn't offend anyone

Math 1950-2005

Last week I purchased a burger at Burger King for $1.58. The counter girl took my $2 and I was digging for my change when I pulled 8 cents from my pocket and gave it to her. She stood there, holding the nickel and 3 pennies, while looking at the screen on her register. I sensed her discomfort and tried to tell her to just give me two quarters, but she hailed the manager for help. While he tried to explain the transaction to her, she stood there and cried. Why do I tell you this?

Because of the evolution in teaching math since the 1950s:



1. Teaching Math In 1950

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 1960

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 1970

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




4. Teaching Math In 1980

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 1990

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.)



6. Teaching Math In 2005

Un hachero vende una carretada de maderapara $100. El costo de la producciones es $80.

[ret5hd]

1. i know you dont believe this pile of sh*t any more than i do...

so i'll refrain.

[Craig3410]

2. I can tell you the evolution of teaching college math...

Once upon a time, colleges actually gave a rat's ass about things like "comprehension" and "understanding". They actually HIRED TEACHERS to GIVE TESTS on PENCIL AND PAPER (really!) and most kids understood.

These days, the profit margin is all that matters, and students do tests on computer programs that are anal-retentive as hell (Silly student! -1 * X is NOT the same as -X!) have bugs that are found every other week (seriously, I must have gotten 6 or 7 emails last semester telling me to redownload the program because of an error found), and, frankly, make absogoddamnlutely no sense at all (Seriously, in each section we have to do the "questions" set before the "problems" set. The "problems" set shows you how to do it; the "questions" set doesn't. WTF?)

So is there any question why I failed?

[laheina]

4. One of my calculus profs

sent his kids to school in Germany. So I don't think that you are alone in your frustration.

[Angry Girl]

3. The state of math today is such that we can read headlines like this:

A landslide victory for the GOP with 143% of the vote! Bush wins again!

[Katherine Brengle]

5. ew--my winger aunt sent this to me in an email once. i told her not to

send me any more emails.

[Bridget Burke]

6. Yeah. Blame the Teachers, the Environmentalists & the Spanish speakers.

Or blame the author if this piece of Internet Spam. You're at least supposed to add: "A friend sent me this."

297 Google Hits: www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=active&q=%22A+logger+cuts+down+a+beautiful+forest%22

[madokie]

9. correct, my apologies

[htuttle]

7. This is right-wing agitprop

If the problems with math education are that 'liberals' and 'environmentalists' have watered down the lessons, why do so many of the nation's scientists get their education at Universities in liberal areas?

Who has a better science school, Bob Jones University or the University of Wisconsin, Madison? Where would you want your heart surgeon to have graduated from?

[Ignis]

11. Don't forget the thinly-veiled racism.

After all, we gotta watch out lest those damn Mexicans take all our jobs. Pretty soon we'll all be FORCED to speak Spanish!

:sarcasm:

[noonwitch]

8. There have been changes in how they teach math, but this is not accurate

It strikes me as a mean joke.

I do admit that they totally screwed up math class for me in the early 70s, with that "New Math" crap. Then they did a "work at your own pace" thing with the cards in the box that you drew for your assignment. I was an average to low average math student. I needed a teacher, not a bunch of assignments from a box.

To this day, I can't do long division without a calculator. I can't do fractions beyond the obvious basic ones, and I was totally lost in Algebra and Chemistry in high school. I really only had one good math teacher after 2nd grade, not counting high school teachers who were annoyed with my previous teachers for not teaching me properly.

My 7th grade math teacher was excellent. She worked with me after school and for that year, I was able to work at grade level. Unfortunately she did so well, that I passed the test for advanced math in 8th grade, when I should have taken basic math to reinforce what I had just learned.

[Jim__]

10. I went to school in the 50s and 60s.

When I was in high school, I worked in a fruit and vegetable store. The first time someone handed me, say, $20.10 ( a twenty dollar bill and a dime) for an order that cost, say, $5.08, I didn't know how to make change. They really don't teach that in math class. After you've done it a couple of times, it's simple. The first time, it doesn't seem to make sense.

I don't think much has changed in this respect.

[Mythsaje]

12. It was weird...

I did okay in Math until the 4th Grade and then I had a heck of a time learning my multiplication tables. I spent a good portion of the summer between 5th and 6th grade writing them out over and over again.

I was very intuitive with math when I was young--I could arrive at an answer without working through the steps to get there. As I found out, they really don't like that sort of thing. So I was forced to struggle through it all.

Suffice to say that I didn't do well in math in school. English and History were my high points.

Some years later, when I took a GED class, many of the things I didn't get originally fell into place. I found I could do a lot of math in my head, including multiplication and division of fractions. (I think some of this was the time I spent designing and playtesting my own RPG).

The odd thing was that I never could figure out algebra. I can do your basic math dealing with money or fractions or whatever in my head in a blink of an eye...or at least, I could do the fraction things if I got myself back up to speed.

Of course, I was an individualized learner...teaching en masse never worked well for me. My approach to things was just far enough off that standard practices confused me rather than enlightened me.

I think the biggest problem with education, and have for some time, is that it's all cookie-cutter and by rote, which may work well for the greater percentage of students, but leaves entirely too many students either bored or baffled.

Not to mention that I think the schools, either deliberately or accidentally, do entirely too much to promote conformity and not enough to promote individual styles of learning and being.

:shrug:

[The Flaming Red Head]

13. I was ripped to shreds by college algebra taught by a computer module

I almost hung myself. Really. It's much more difficult now, believe it or not. The computer module named ALEX didn't care that I spent up to 14 hours a day working on these problems designed to teach (but only broke my spirit and my hope of getting a degree)and that I had to support myself and my son. I was up 24/7. After I started considering suicide because I had completed every necessary core and degree requirement (including advanced sciences) over 130 hours except Math which is now only taught with this computer program at the college I attend. I gave up. IN debt forever and I gave up.
If ALEX was a person I'd consider killing him.

[The Flaming Red Head]

15. OH and it's no A,B,C, or D either you make 95% an A or you fail

the final is proctored and timed. Tell me that's not tough. I hate that math program. And there are no other options. It's the only way they'll let you take it.

UALR by the way. Don't go there. (University of Ark at Little Rock)

[Javaman]

14. Another hit and run post. n/t

[AnnInLa]

16. I am a high-school math teacher

Algebra I and GED Math. I have taught Algebra II, Geometry, Business Math and Calculus in the past.

Some of what you assert is true (altho I suspect emails like this have as their motive the further destruction of our public school system).....but, teachers are trying to change this trend by emphasizing math-reasoning skills more and more. I find that the basic skills of the kids coming to us from the middle schools have improved a lot, but they all need more practice with math-reasoning skills... WORD PROBLEMS....yeah, I know, yuck. I can't emphasize enough to you guys who have kids, that the conquering of math skills at an early age is Extremely Important. Too often, the kids pick up the "yuck-math-factor" from their parents, and don't even try to conquer it. If you can emphasize that math is fun, is logical (when other things aren't), is necessary, and present a positive attitude toward learning math, in particular, it would be a great boost to the effort of math teachers everywhere!

Good grief, just re-read what I wrote, and it sounds so teacher-stuffy! Oh well.

[Bandit]

17. As a modern day math teacher do you allow calculators?

Do you allow the usage of calculators in your class or do you demand they figure out the answers on their own? IMO it is difficult to learn a process if something else does the work for you.

[AnnInLa]

19. Actually, you teach both ways......because, calculators

are a reality. Even modern cash-registers don't make the employee figure out the change.....even at banks. But, yes it is certainly better for the kids to first know how to compute problems without aides. If you check most high-school math books, at the end of each section, or chapter, there will be a calculator section, which also teaches the particular skills by calculator....calcs are a reality, and using them is also a skill.

[MissB]

21. In our school district

they start with word problems in 1st grade math. By second grade, the kids are writing paragraphs to explain their reasoning on even the most simple word problem.

[SmokingJacket]

18. While there is a grain of truth here... COME ON!

No one -- except in some bilingual classes -- is being taught in spanish, so what might otherwise have been a cutting commentary on the state of math education is rendered utterly stupid.

Grr.

[NancyG]

20. I taught HS math in the 70s

thru Calculus. Left teaching because it was always the teacher's fault. I had a masters and was top of my class. Got tired of being ripped by admin, parents, tv, newspapers that teachers weren't doing their jobs. And getting paid shit. America needs to revere and pay teachers.