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We're all aware that math literacy in the US is well below where it needs to be for a competitive economy. We're less clear on what to do about it, other than promoting STEM courses, which seems in part a triumph of hope over experience. One controversial viewpoint is to move away from hoping everyone will become or wants to become expert in calculus and to focus more on basic numeracy for the majority of the population. Not just how to add up the cost of your groceries, but understanding how gerrymandering voting districts helps political parties and how to detect fraud in a schedule C form for itemized tax deductions.
Not sure I completely agree with all aspects of this proposal but at least this is some lateral thinking, which I submit we desperately need.
I'm so fortunate to have attended a high school in Minnesota with an AP program that taught me calculus, and I even earned my first year of college calculus credit.
Math literacy must be addressed much earlier in schooling.
As a professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering for 14 years I made a 15 minute appointment with each student to discuss and then return each test. I found that about 10% of the Juniors and Seniors had fundamental misunderstandings [e.g. sin(2*x)=2*sin(x)] which were quickly corrected but missed by other professors because of the large size of the classes. More one-on-one contact is needed in the universities, and I believe this should start much earlier.
Math literacy must be addressed much earlier in schooling.
As a professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering for 14 years I made a 15 minute appointment with each student to discuss and then return each test. I found that about 10% of the Juniors and Seniors had fundamental misunderstandings [e.g. sin(2*x)=2*sin(x)] which were quickly corrected but missed by other professors because of the large size of the classes. More one-on-one contact is needed in the universities, and I believe this should start much earlier.
In STEM courses in higher education I completely agree. But what should we do for the great majority of the population who don't make it that far? The checkers who have a hard time making change, voters who seem confused by income/employment/GDP/debt/other statistics and are especially confused by risk statistics (death by terrorism, nuclear radiation, car accident, guns, etc, etc). Completely independent of political viewpoints, if the great majority of the populace understood basic statistics, arithmetic and big and small numbers better, we might have more reasoned discussions about fixes to some of our social ills. I can dream...
My daughter just finished her degree in math at a UC and she feels you need to take away professor tenure and get better teachers. My son is a math teacher and he also feels that tenured teachers can be counter productive.
It would be most unusual if one could never be terminated after they had demonstrated competency for the first few years in industry. Can you imagine what would happen if our representatives in government were given tenure? Present rewards should be based on present performance.
Having been actively involved in local school board meetings for about two years, I became so disgusted I had to quit going. The teachers union and other special interests, like construction unions have jacked up the price of education while greatly lowering the quality. Most empires fall from the inside. The interest in educating the students took last place to political correctness. Our military is useless against one of the greatest threats to the country and part of this is from them being so called educated in this very system. Critical thinking is definitely not allowed. This is also why we have the two worst candidates in history. It is not only math, but economics, which is just as important. Our government budgets incorporate a combination of Bernie Madoff/Enron/Lehman Brothers accounting and even worse. Our government no longer serves the people, but preys upon them. People lie, money tells the truth, as they say, FOLLOW THE MONEY.
I struggled with math. I could understand it but I wasn't really taught how to present it.
Anything in math that involves a person becomes an art and you can't teach art in a graded environment. Students need to learn math in a mentoring environment and then try to apply it in a classroom.
Portland, you might study up on adaptive education, it solves many of the problems you talk about and is automated and low cost. I really expect some fantastic developments when AI is merged with adaptive education. Current teaching methods in many areas haven't changed since the time of the Greeks.
I'm for a more conservative approach of students being around a professional in a 3 hour class in a non-graded environment. The student can learn from absorbing the material from a professional.
My case was I like to think in terms of abstracts and the text as well as the problems were written in that way but the problems written on the tests were metaphors. I was lost. I doubt my instructors even read the text they assigned. It wasn't written in their style. The last three professors I had I don't think even really cared. They would give you a look if you made them work at all. Education in math and science in the united states needs to get it's act together because what's done now isn't working.
what's the definition of insanity? Doing the same and expecting different results.
This topic has been discussed for decades and the US continues to sink lower and lower in WW rankings. Various states have created 'standard' testing to ensure that students learn the basics required by a specific time/age/grade. But when the results are not as expected (lower), schools focus on studying for testing (rote memorization) with similar results. Other schools lower the 'bar' to graduate thereby inflating their graduation results. All curriculum changes directed by 'knowledgeable' insiders (School Boards, Teacher Unions, etc).
In the short term, the students pay the price. In the longer term, the US will pay the price. Can any one imagine a time in the future where our universities will no longer draw the world's best candidates where they choose non- US schools?
Is it a wonder that the US also is losing its stature. We have some 'bright' spots but I question how long they will last.
Portland states have 'professionals' teach: who will anoint these professionals?
