Hey,
Miss you all!
Will write more about NY soon, but saw this article and couldn't resist posing. This makes me cringe. So much. So so so much. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/opinion/sunday/is-algebra-necessary.html?pagewanted=2&hp
@Alex ... aw :( Wish we had overlapping times.
-Joy
AGHHH noooooooo. Someone in lab mentioned this article today too.
ReplyDeleteI don't even... blarghhhhh.
Here's a pretty good response: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/yes-algebra-is-necessary/2012/07/30/gJQAr6xMKX_blog.html
ReplyDeleteI actually do think that traditional methods of teaching math fail a lot of kids - especially after spending three summers TA-ing summer school math classes, in which a lot of the students failed their math classes during the year. But it does not make sense to scrap algebra altogether...when there are more obvious solutions like increasing resources/financial support for math education (and education in other subjects) and experimenting with different types of pedagogy.
@Rachel -- yes; I definitely agree that there are a lot of issues with the way that we teach math now. It's just that algebra is so early to cut things off that it makes me cringe :P (maybe the wrong emoticon here)
ReplyDeleteHmm.... I also owe this blog a long long post