Just look up some of the crap that passed for “math” in some of the textbooks. Examples are on the internet.
Problem which uses a bar graph that shows liberals as non-racist and conservatives as very racist and listed as such. Varying degrees of racism shown dependent on political party. Really?
You would agree with this stuff being used as teaching materials for your kids?
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If it’s a legit study - some legit organization vs made up numbers - then I have no problem with it. It’s the real world out there. No sense covering it up and pretending it doesn’t exist just because we don’t want it to have those numbers.
Of course, if I were writing a book and an exact opposite study were out there with real numbers they got, then I’d add that too and spend a few minutes talking about potential source bias.
But as I’ve already said, I think kids need to learn about the real world, not some made up fantasy ideal world. The more kids are introduced to the real world the better they are able to handle it when they encounter it.
I’m not at all in favor of the snowflake version of life.
If something like that had made up numbers, then it definitely wouldn’t belong. It’d be as fake as many other word problems and worse than useless, but I’m pretty sure that study is real. I recall one of my sons taking it in college and discussing his results.
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I think it’s hard enough for teachers to teach math, I’m not sure that incorporating any of the current things makes that easier. If we get to the point where the data being used in an example can in any way detract from learning the concept being taught we will be doing the students a disservice.
Of course to a hammer, all the world’s a nail.
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You really underestimate the average high schooler.
But as I said before, kids in my classes did better on tests than those in other classes, so I doubt I “messed” them up too much by incorporating math into the real world. It’s hardly like we spent an hour on “other” things and 15 minutes on math. When fears are overcome, challenges are looked forward to, and concepts are understood, it’s amazing what kids can do. Sure beats worksheet after worksheet writing out meaningless problems (though there’s a time for making sure one knows how to do those too - kinda like learning vocab for science, boring, but essential for understanding).
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Not really, but I’ve seen far too many not meet their potential because of poor teaching and no parental support.
In general, the fewer distractions the more better. We sometimes complicate things with good intentions but bad outcomes.
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If it’s a real study and the point of the lesson is to examine the math behind the study, then I have no problem with it. One of the major issues I see today is that many talking heads make claims that people blindly accept as truth.
If students were taught in school to examine the substance behind a claim with a critical eye, then that can only be a net positive for anyone who believes in fact-based decision making.
If the outrage is directed towards the findings of the study, then indeed it is worth your time to examine the methodology and math behind it to prove it wrong (or right). And again that type of critical analysis regardless of viewpoint is a worthwhile part of a formal education.
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"Based on the volume of requests the Department has received for examples of problematic elements of the recently reviewed instructional materials, the following are examples provided to the department by the public and presented no conflict in sharing them. "
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This thread has prompted me to start saving for private school for my future grandkids, if any, in the next 20 years
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Thankfully the district in my state that banned The Bluest Eye, reversed it’s decision.
I’ve started reading banned books this year for fun. lol So far I’ve read The Bluest Eye, Out of Darkness, Heavy, and George (being renamed Melissa I believe). There is absolutely nothing questionable about George. The others all have sex/rape/etc but stoop should be fine for high school students. I think if they weren’t about racial issues, no one would suggest banning them.
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One might wonder what prompted schools to purchase 50 Shades of Gray for their libraries. An interest in bondage fic? A desire to spark discussions of S&M? Just keeping up with the best-seller list? There is a remarkable amount of porn lit in the world, so I suppose it is “real world” to include it in libraries.
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Me too, but that’s a whole different topic.
Not really. This is just a part of the bigger problem. Something that parents are now waking up to.
Oh, that’s what you were implying. It certainly will be interesting to see how much “better” students get when the parents write the curricula. I sense many getting to college with really significant gaps.
What I meant by parental support was parents caring that junior did their best in school and tried to succeed (fed well, rested, arrive on time, homework at least attempted, etc). We get plenty that go to truancy court and similar.
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At my elementary & middle school they would give out planners to write out homework, get papers signed, etc. They always had prompts on the side like “How did you feel this week” or “What keeps you going in the morning”. Nobody used them, and the teachers never forced it upon us. The same thing would probably happen with the math textbooks, my teachers mainly use the textbook for the problem sets, not the lesson plan or teaching instructions. My calculus book also has biographies, but it’s a healthy mix of people (ex: Descartes, Agnesi, Ramanujan), nobody reads these either.
This is just my opinion, but I don’t think talking about how you feel about the math problems improved test scores, but just going over it/putting an explanation on paper is what helped.
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Everyone I know thinks students’ math skills have deteriorated with all these fads. I suppose the need to recenter the SAT proves that; regardless of whether the kids feel good about their math ability, the truth is they arent very good.
I swear if I ever have grandkids I am going to search out a Catholic school and enroll them, and I am not even Catholic. Those kids learn foundational math skills with fewer distractions.
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Were the biographies on or near the pages relating to math topics associated with the people in question? Some students might wonder who Reimann and L’Hôpital were when encountering math named after them.
The general topic of quality of math instruction, relation to standardized test scores, etc is one best left for a different thread. Ditto for trips down memory lane Let’s get back to topic, please.
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