You my recall that wrote a Blog on New Math and now have a few more comments on the subject. Recall that when New Math was introduced the math test scores in the USA schools started to go down and continue to go down farther. Now our USA kids are among the least competent in the world. Given the value and need for competency in math in this modern world we are dead last.
I have said this before about our schools and that is that our kids have to understand exactly why they are in school and why the subjects that they are required to take are needed. I don't think our kids or their parents understand why their kids are in school and why graduation is so important. Now for Math. This might sound strange to you, but the reason that our kids need to know math is to solve, "Word Problems". Do you remember those old word problems? Many of our kids who seems to do well on math and got good math grades were very poor in solving word problems. The only reason to learn the different types of math is so that our kids can solve word problems. I am 70 years old and the only type of math problems that I have had to deal with during those 70 years have been word problems. How about your self?
In our high schools, our kids normally have to take four years of math. The subjects are Algebra I for freshmen and Geometry for Sophomores and Trigonometry for Juniors and finally Algebra II for Seniors. Some schools who seem to want to do a better job in math offer a Calculus class for advance placement Seniors. I think that our schools are making a big mistake in offering Calculus courses. The reason is that most high school kids don't have the skill to solve real life word problems. I would offer Probability and Statistics before any Calculus class. In my 70 years, I have used Probability much more to solve real life word problems than I have Calculus. For most parents, they see the word "Calculus" as some kind of buzz word for their kids being smarter than the rest of the kids. If we go back to the reason for math in our schools and agree that it is so our kids can solve word problems, I think you can see why I hold the views that I do.
Did you ever hear of anyone who was more able to solve a word problem because they took New Math in school? In my 70 years, I have never heard anyone or seen a situation where the so called New Math contributed in anyway to the solution of a word problem. I have seem many cases where well educated people failed to get the correct answer to a word problem because they did not have a grasp of Probability.
I have heard more than one student claim that they were very good at math, but had problems solving word problems. To my way of thinking, if they can't solve word problems, then they have to admit that they do not have a good grasp of basic math. They can't have it both ways. The bottom line in math is the ability to solve real life word problems. Next time you hear a student making some kind of excuse about their inability to solve word problems, confront them that they really don't understand math.
Like I said, you have to have a reason for doing anything and if you don't understand the reason why for something, you are never going to be able to do your best, period.
