Why Johnny Can't Do Algebra
Appears in Print As: Leland Teschler's Editorial: Why Johnny Can't Do Algebra
The algebra teacher I had in high school left a lot to be desired. He struggled to explain basic concepts in class, and those of us stuck with him as an instructor always had the impression he was just one chapter ahead of us in the algebra book. He was a nice guy, but he had no business teaching math.
I suspect most MACHINE DESIGN readers can recall similar experiences with less-than-competent teachers. This is good to keep in mind as you review the results of the Trends in International Math and Science Study. TIMSS is a measure of how U.S. students stack up in math and science proficiency against their counterparts in other countries.
Generally speaking, U.S. students just don’t look good on these evaluations. Eighth graders, for example, score well behind kids in Singapore, Taiwan, Russia, Hong Kong, and 11 other countries. And the poor scoring is nothing new. As far back as the 1960s, the U.S. has done poorly compared with other developed nations. Although U.S. test scores have improved a bit over the years, those of other advanced nations have improved more.
The hand-wringing over U.S. academic performance has gone on for decades. In 1983, a “widespread public perception that something is seriously remiss in our educational system” gave rise to a widely noted report called A Nation at Risk, The Imperative for Educational Reform. Produced by a presidential commission, it called for a wide range of educational reforms.
One of those reforms was to pay teachers for performance and to devise a mechanism that would weed out incompetents. But the Wikipedia page on Nation at Risk notes that “stunningly few” of its recommendations were ever implemented. For an idea why, consider the comments of Terry Moe, a professor of political science at Stanford University, and John Chubb, founder of EdisonLearning Inc. They blame the lack of reform on teachers’ unions that are “extraordinarily powerful.” They quote a study of state-level politics that found teachers’ unions to be the single-most-powerful interest group in the entire country throughout the 1990s. This lets unions block reforms, like pay for performance and the firing of incompetents, which are not in the interest of their members.
Moe and Chubb also point out that a simple way to boost teacher quality would be to test veteran teachers for competence in the subjects they teach. This almost certainly would have exposed the shortcomings of my algebra teacher. But unions have opposed these sorts of tests. They claim that all teachers with formal certification are competent to teach.
Well, my algebra teacher was certified, as were all the teachers in my school system even back then. At least to me, the suggestion that certification is a proxy for competence is nonsensical.
It is ironic that the United Auto Workers union has taken so much heat for contributing to the economic woes of U.S. manufacturing. One might argue teachers’ unions should get a bigger part of the blame simply because they’ve put their members’ interests ahead of enhancing the nation’s cognitive skills. And there is a direct connection between cognitive skills and economic growth. Moe and Chubb put it this way: Had the U.S. spent the last decade boosting its educational performance to that of international educational leaders, its gross domestic product by 2015 would be 4.5% higher than otherwise. That’s something to remember as you read the latest unemployment figures.
—Leland Teschler, Editor
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Comments
Poor Teachers
I came across this discussion while browsing around the web for methods to help my students learn basic pre-algebra skills. I'm a high school science teacher, though...so why in the world would I be interested in doing a math teacher's job?
Physics requires a good understanding of math skills, and my students have absolutely none. I know each school is different, but I place most of the blame on the math teachers at my school. Out of the 7 math teachers, 4 of them are coaches who could not care less about teaching (these people sit in class on their cell phones or aren't in the classroom at all). That leaves three competent math teachers.
I have twelfth graders in class who do not understand what a variable is, cannot rearrange a simple 3-variable formula, and cannot understand word problems. Its endlessly frustrating.
Again, each school is different, but at my school the teachers are the problem. Will anything be done? Not likely.
Homework
My son is considered one of the "brains" in his 9th grade Algebra II class. I have worked with him constantly and when he complains I gently remind him, "Amateurs practice until they get it right, professionals practice until they can't get it wrong."
blame?
While I am not one to blame teachers entirely for this state of affairs, I will blame any teacher who goes along with the edu-canard that you cannot teach children by rote. The same children who cannot do basic arithmetic cannot spell or compose a sentence, and later in life cannot perform more complicated math or language operations. My girlfriend's cousin in 2002 did math I had in 4th grade, only he was in seventh.
Their brains are taught smooth.
Math Teachers
Off & on over the last few years I have had to teach a class called "Math Topics", for those who have failed the California Exit Exam repeatedly. In every case that we have seen (my wife and I are both teachers and tutors for the CAHSEE), the problem was not in Algebra but in the lack of competency in basic math facts. If you can't add, subtract, multiply, divide, do fractions, or do fraction/decimal conversion, you will never conquer algebra or any more advanced math. When a student is fully competent in the basics, learning the algebra is easy.
multiplication tables
I personally know someone who writes grade school math books... she does not believe in children learning "multiplication tables", "they have calculators" she says. When my son decided he wanted to become a sheet metal worker, he had to pass a basic math test to prove that he could understand fractions... he flunked it, and it was holding him out of that career path, till we decided to tutor him on "multiplication tables". Well at the age of 20, he learned them, passed the test and is now a journeyman. You can not understand fractions if you don't know that 2 x 2 = 4 and 2 x 4 = 8.
The educational revolution is coming
Some great thoughts from you guys. I can recall only a handfull of the 100+ teachers from my past that seemed liked they enjoyed conveying their subject matter. I think the rest were either clueless or just putting in 30 years and then a nice paid early retirement. When people say that we do not pay pre-college teachers enough, they do not consider that they work just 180 days/year (only 80% of the average job), AND as stated the unions virtually ensure they remain employed no matter their competence, AND most of them can retire (perhaps 10 years) earlier than the average, AND still pull an incredible retirement salary plus have medical coverage! When you churn the numbers, they are no way underpaid!!!
Why Jonny can't do Algebra
I was very lucky to have several good math teachers in my elementary and HS years. Starting with a great teacher in 6'th grade who had the class draw a circle with the points of an equalateral triangle touching the circle only using a compass, straight edge and pencil. Not a lot of us did it, but we sure had fun with geometry, and he sparked an interest that continued all through college for me. A couple of my HS Math teachers gave us tricks that I still use to this day, and I have passed these tricks on to my kids. They all have stuggled much less with math than a lot of their classmates, is this genetic or just a result of a parent that cares and is involved with their childrens education, I beleive if more parents were involved with their kids education, that test scores would be higher. I'm also very glad that I had some great teachers!
Why Jonny can't do Algebra
I'm sure the person that wrote this
response was a teacher! It is what it is,
they are under worked and over paid and
should be responsible for the service
they provide. If you look into in-service
days most always fall on Fridays and
Mondays. This is designed to make for
three day weekends.
Why Anthony can't do math
I am uncle Bob here at home with my sister n Law and her three children. The oldest boy, Anthony, is a bright boy, kind and not troublesom, but a do absolutely nothing student and that with the school's aparent "blessing" with their "no kid left behind" initiatives. He does not do his class work nor does he do his home work, and still advances to the next grade each year along with all of the students that work for their grades. He does play video games all the time, does not do any house hold chores, and is not expected to, and plays.
His mom is a very loving mother but does nothing to get him to do his school work, I can't help him because he thinks I am too hard on him for not letting him play video games before he has finished all of his school work. His mom doesn't want me to upset him.
I get the feeling that this is the norm for the "No kid left behind" group that has found out that they do not have to work, just show up. Can barely read, can only do simple math, does not know where in the world anything is going on, who runs our country or why they do. The school, the Government, and the Parents owe a stern awakening to these students, and start teaching them, even if they don't want to learn!
Why Johnny Can't Do Algebra
I have been involved with MATHCOUNTS for 27 years and know of some outstanding teachers in the public schools. Most of the winning Mathletes come from public schools.
Problem starts in grade school where there are disrupted student that can't be disciplined, so the whole class suffers. If a student does not know arithmetic, how can they learn algebra?
The other thing I found out that some school district have English or History teachers who are certified K-8 to teach math. Typically they go by the book, because they do not know or love math. The problem is that colleges of education are administered by teachers who are not math teachers.
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