Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!dalcs!aucs!870158a
From: 870158a@aucs.UUCP (Benjamin Armstrong)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: In defence of the K-12 school system
Message-ID: <1005@aucs.UUCP>
Date: 24 Mar 88 21:00:48 GMT
References: <3435@medusa.cs.purdue.edu>
Organization: School of Computer Science, Acadia Univ., Nova Scotia
Lines: 78
Keywords: mandatory math

In article <3435@medusa.cs.purdue.edu>, tlh@cs.purdue.EDU (Thomas L. Hausmann) writes:
>For most of us reading comp.edu we are well aware of this problem.  What we
>could be searching for is a solution or at least some ideas for change.
>Old ideas include: making certain math courses required through grade 10
>as opposed to grade 8, passing standard tests prior to graduation,  requiring
>more math courses for ed majors, etc.

The old ideas don't sit very well with me.  By grade eight most of the damage
is already done.  Students simply hate mathematics, and even the ones who don't
are bored to death with it.  All of the "math is fun" crap that I got in late
grade school and early junior high never did anything for me.  Very few of my
teachers or the writers of the curriculi they were using knew anything about
motivation.  Does anyone know anything about motivation for that matter?  Why
is it that so very many people end up hating math?

Take the case of my brother Chris who is currently the computer specialist
in a fledgling language institute.  When he was in early grade school he was
put in a couple of experimental schools where he learned mathematics under
the Montessorri (sp?) Method.  He enjoyed it and excelled at it.  As soon as
he was put into the public school system, his interest declined and so did
his grades.  By junior high he was frustrated with math and believed himself
incapable of doing well in it.  He avoided science courses all through high
school and by the time he reached university, the only science course he
took was an introductory computer science course for non-computer science
majors the primary objective of which was to teach Pascal.  He failed that
course.  By this point Chris was completely turned of to math and computers
and, in general, wary of "high-tech" things.

A couple of years ago, however, Chris started working at the International
Language Institute in Halifax as an editor.  It was here that his first
positive encounters with computers took place.  Chris learned very quickly
and in a matter of time he was doing everything on the computer: page
layout, maintaining a dial-up service for clients and translators, management
of the office LAN, software evaluation and purchasing...  He was never
incapable of comprehending computers and would have shown his aptitude much
earlier if he had been provided with the proper environment.  (Incidentally,
Chris's SAT scores for the sciences were excellent despite his lack of
success in his courses.)

Now, in my case, I did well enough in mathematics throughout high school,
but for me, the lack of stimulation in the earlier grades had a different
effect.  I was bored out of my skull, so I never did any homework.  My
speed of computation suffered considerably.  To date, I still find myself
struggling with very basic things such as dividing or subtracting.  I
understand mathematical concepts just fine and survived honours math in
high school pretty well, all things considered.  But now, in my second year
of an Honours Computer Science degree, I am looking for ways to avoid
taking Calculus because I'm afraid I will not do well enough in it for
an Honours program.

Most of my friends who took honours level science courses in high school found
them under-stimulating.  Making math mandatory in high school will not help
matters.  That's a band-aid solution to a problem which starts in the very
beginning, in early grade school.

Some of my friends who are now in the arts tell me that they cannot multiply
fractions or solve algebraic problems and also, not surprisingly, that
they hate and/or fear mathematics.  Why?  These are not stupid people.  How
many people go through life believing themselves to be "dumb" when it comes to
the sciences when actually they are victims of poor quality education?

I challenge the whole system.  People learn in different ways at different
rates, yet I have found our schools to be inflexible, not providing stimulating
material for students who excel, and not finding effective motivators for those
who take longer either.  When will we see it begin to happen?

I am thrilled by the potential computers have as motivators for children and
adults alike.  I am dismayed, however, when I see how far we have yet to come
in using computers in education.  It seems that attempts have been made to
dress up the old curriculi in CAI software, but maybe what we really need is
to find new ways of teaching math and the sciences which exploit our new
tools more effectively and which result in more captivating and motivating
lessons.
-- 
          Ben Armstrong at Acadia University, Wolfville N.S.
UUCP: {uunet|watmath|utai|garfield|mnetor}!dalcs!aucs!870158a | In quest of
BITNET: 870158a@Acadia                                        | a cure for
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