Re: Some grave concerns to the US education

In article <e5prd09gn2ifpao4pb34htvb61ss5gg2o7@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
Bob LeChevalier  <lojbab@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>"Fletch F. Fletch" <notme31415@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>How many people do you figure are on the earth that don't know their
times
>>tables to say twelve, but can factor a quadratic?  I'm guessing it
hovers
>>around zero.

>I dunno.  My kid passed algebra this year (not easily, but he did
>pass), and he doesn't know the times tables to ten solidly.  I ran him
>on flashcard programs for a few years, and he could get 98% on 100
>multiplication facts in under 3 minutes 3 days straight.  But a month
>after stopping the flash cards, he would be back at 50-60% and 6-8
>minutes.  Addition was only somewhat better.  We tried this for four
>years with the same results and then realized he would never really
>master them.  He counts on his fingers when he doesn't have a
>calculator.  He'll never be a math whiz.  But algebra is required to
>graduate, and he seems to have managed it. (He actually got better
>grades in algebra than in middle school pre-algebra cl*****).

As I have stated MANY times, knowing how to do arithmetic 
quickly is no indication whatever of mathematical ability.

Also, I have pointed out that one can UNDERSTAND the concepts
of how the integers, etc., quite well even before seeing any
manipulations with decimals, and have also expressed my belief
that learning to do routine operations will not help, and may
interfere, with understanding what it means.






-- 
This address is for information only.  I do not claim that these views
are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University.
Herman Rubin, Department of Statistics, Purdue University
hrubin@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
         Phone: (765)494-6054   FAX: (765)494-0558