Citing "The Bell Curve" makes me suspect everything else in those
posts... "The Bell Curve" is really NOT good science. It's based on
ideas that lost respect after World War II (and for good reason)!
My guess would be that, with the advent of the algebra requirement,
schools are pu****ng kids faster than they can learn. Kids who don't
develop a deep sense of numeracy, who move from math unit to math unit
at too quick a pace, never develop the basic mathematical foundations
upon which algebra is built. And honestly, there are a lot of excellent
teachers out there who have the same problem, and so don't teach math
verhy well at the elementary level (where teachers are expected to teach
ALL subjects, not just the ones they understand well).
I see no evidence that kids are innately too dumb or unmotivated to
learn algebra. I see (anecdotally, from personal experience) that kids
are taught ineffectively in the earlier years. And often its the
system, not the classroom teacher, at fault!
Where I live there's a big push to have most students take algebra in
eighth grade. This means pu****ng kids through the earlier curricula
very quickly, and it's come to the point where the classroom teacher has
no control over the speed at which the curriculum is taught, even at the
week to week level. One teacher was very frustrated because his 7th
graders were having trouble understanding negative numbers. He was
making progress with manipulatives and the number line, and one by one
his students were starting to get it. But then the day came for the
county-required unit *****sment, so he had to cover up the number line
and give his kids the test. He thought that with another two weeks he'd
have been able to fill in the gap in their earlier math education for
this topic, and they would have been able to do well. But that wasn't
allowed, and so the kids did poorly and went on to the next math unit,
where they probably did poorly as well.
--Beth Kevles
bethkevles@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://web.mit.edu/kevles/www/nomilk.html
-- a page for the
milk-allergic
Disclaimer: Nothing in this message should be construed as medical
advice. Please consult with your own medical practicioner.
NOTE: No email is read at my MIT address. Use the GMAIL one if you would
like me to reply.
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