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From: me@csri.toronto.edu (Daniel R. Simon)
Subject: Re: Subtle Math Questions
Message-ID: <1991May4.132343.21024@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu>
Organization: CSRI, University of Toronto
References: <2731@ttardis.UUCP> <1991Apr24.142835.26475@mccc.edu> <1991May1.192513.11714@watmath.waterloo.edu> <1991May2.133856.8338@psych.toronto.edu>
Date: 4 May 91 17:23:43 GMT
Lines: 26

In article <1991May2.133856.8338@psych.toronto.edu> grant@psych.toronto.edu (Stuart Grant) writes:
>I agree that watered down courses in which students are not expected to learn
>are not much use to anyone. However, I don't think that this is 
>the biggest problem with the math instruction in primary and secondary
>schools. _Any_ math course taught at a college or university will be at  
>least as sophisticated as what teachers will be teaching in primary and
>secondary schools. Not knowing how to do differential equations is not
>the greatest problem math teachers have.
>
>Calling the education faculty math courses wimpy, and making math teachers
>take "regular" math courses is not the answer. The quality of math 
>instruction will improve if teachers are given more training in the 
>teaching of math. Teaching math is difficult, Motivating students and
>getting across abstract concepts that the students have not used before
>is, I believe, the greatest difficulty.

Would it be acceptable for, say, a foreign language teacher to have a grounding
in that language that barely goes beyond the high school level, or for anyone 
to argue that "*any* history course taught at a college or university will be 
at least as sophisticated as what teachers will be teaching in primary or 
secondary schools"?  Is it sufficient for high-school art or music teachers to 
have "any" college- or university-level course before they teach?


"There *is* confusion worse than death"		Daniel R. Simon
			     -Tennyson		(me@theory.toronto.edu)