One-Minute Writing of the Day:
Writer: Helen
We have bought into the "Math is hard" concept as a culture, while we belittle the arts as being something anyone can do. Students who whose brains are hardwired for Math and Science rather than Arts and Languages believe that "Math is hard" and believe in their dumbness for not having language aptitude, rather than that they have potential in Math and Science. We have to stop reiterating that Math and Science are so highly difficult, and start encouraging students to reach their potential.
Congratulations, Helen! There were so many good responses to this prompt, highlighting the fact that there are multiple good answers. I liked yours a lot--I think it's true that kids hear from parents, friends, society, even sometimes teachers--that math and science are hard. I hope we can get past that. Feel free to put another One-Minute Writer WINNER! button on your blog(s)! Also, please either comment here or e-mail me at cbethblog (at) gmail (dot) com if you don't mind me using your response in a possible future podcast.
29 comments:
Sorry about the late post, folks. I messed up setting it up last night--put in the wrong publish date.
I am curious to hear responses of both Americans and international writers here!
Discipline, lack of early career guidance, attitude and add to this the decay of inner city schools.
Dan
We have bought into the "Math is hard" concept as a culture, while we belittle the arts as being something anyone can do. Students who whose brains are hardwired for Math and Science rather than Arts and Languages believe that "Math is hard" and believe in their dumbness for not having language aptitude, rather than that they have potential in Math and Science. We have to stop reiterating that Math and Science are so highly difficult, and start encouraging students to reach their potential.
By making sure our children have a healthy sense of self esteem, American parents have succeeded only in imparting a sense of entitlement. Consequently, they lack the motivation, much less the discipline, to strive for excellence in anything. Teachers are glorified babysitters with no power. We have done our children no service.
I know many Americans discuss this issue in terms of lack of drive, good teachers or the willingness to tackle something that is harder for some. But the real reason is lack of social appreciation for math and science skills. When I was growing up in India in the eighties, it was cool to be able to crunch numbers fast and right. My 15 year old cousin attending high school in Wisconsin now thinks it is simply too nerdy and dumb to work hard on math and prefers to use her intelligence in "having fun with her BFFs" which basically amounts to a lot of TV, shopping, gossiping and other such activities. The magic of numbers is not sexy anymore for the American students. Although, having good math teachers does help tremendously in motivating the students to keep trying to attack a problem until they get it. When did this country lose the drive to try?
I am 31 and I still get clammy when I think about math and having to help my daughters someday soon with theirs. I could do my math, never got anything below a C in my math classes. But I did my work in my own time, which wasn't always as quick as most. So when the teacher made us go to the front of the room each day to work out math problems on the board, I remember sweating through my clothes because I was so nervous about rushing and doing it wrong or being the last one up there still trying to figure my problem out. I think I would have enjoyed math a bit more if I hadn't been sent to the front of the room each day to do it. And now as an adult I've heard from many others who felt the same way as I did.
I'm a math & comp sci major.
It's really depressing being one of five students, even in such a small school. So many of the sciences are outnumbered by all of the fashion majors. We have 4 chem majors, and another small handful of neuroscience majors... heck, even the biology students are really all just pre-med. And this is a liberal arts college?
The best part is that here, 3/4 chem majors, 2/5 math/cs majors, and one of the neurosci make a closeknit group of friends.
I think the people who enjoy and work hard at their math and sciences just clump close together out of acceptance of each other, and so many people don't like the clique-ish-ness so they downplay the importance and enjoyment of the maths & sciences. How depressing.
I don't know why we lag behind, I only know I am not interested in math and science. My 16 year old daughter is an honor student taking Honors Algebra and Honors Science, and although she makes excellent grades, she does not enjoy math. She prefers reading, writing, history and the arts over math and science.
I think too much emphasis is put on kids to enjoy math and science. Why can't children (like my daughter) be allowed to enjoy other areas of study without feeling guilty? Our country needs to be a mix of literature, history, and arts in addition to math and science.
I think one of the reasons is because in our education system we are so busy trying to get everyone through the system that we don't emphasize doing the work well. And as a result the students who could excel in these areas are given no motivation to do so. And what student (in general) is going to put more effort in than necessary with no motivation?
well, off the top of my head, japanese kids go to school about 60 days more per year than american kids. i'm sure that doesn't help.
i think this is indicative of america's culture of anti-intellectualism. science and math are often perceived as nerdy or boring or too complicated. think about the standard "nerd" character archetype so prevalent in movies or tv shows and how many times this idea has been force-fed to kids.
same goes for lots of other wonderful and enlightening realms of study, like the fine arts. i think whole generations of americans have been raised to view intelligence and scholastic achievement as negative social traits, which is really rather pathetic and backwards.
I think it has something to do with the American drive to be creative and individualistic. There's so much of an emphasis on those things that the sciences get left out. We don't dream about technology or scientific advancement any more. We have become complacent. The last time we had a scientific boom it was because we were trying to beat another country to get to the moon.
We, as Americans, have to feel challenged to be motivated.
In America, we require ALL students--including those students with moderate to severe/profound mental disabilities--to go to school and remain in school through high school. This is not the case everywhere in the world.
As a result, many teachers "teach to the middle", which often excludes appropriate learning opportunities for special needs students or gifted and talented students. Many times, the "well-behaved, smart" kids are sitting in class twiddling their thumbs while they earn easy A's and breeze through school. Their brains aren't being tapped into as the valuable resource that they are.
In other words... in our quest to currently provide a free and appropriate public education to ALL, we hinder our country's ability to sufficiently compete with other countries.
In order to "hold up" with the other competition, we would have to take away the right to an education for all and start picking and choosing whom will receive one.
They lag behind in science (and history) because they're too busy studying for those standardized tests in reading and math that grab more bucks for their schools.
They lag behind in math because they don't get a good knowledge of basic math skills in elementary school. They lack basic arithmetic skills. Some schools allow the regular use of calculators. Not to mention the confusing, discombobulated, incoherent, parent-unfriendly "reformed" math programs.
The days are also stuffed with social engineering classes that have little, if any, lasting impact on a child's life, and eats away time that could be spent on improving much-needed, useful skills.
Focus. Our education system is focused on socializing our students. Other countries focus on math and science and leave the social aspects of the education of students to the family or other cultural institutions. However, I am not entirely sure that is a bad thing in anyway. As a person whose income is generated from math and science, in a tight economy, I personally benefit from other peoples mathematical illiteracy. The unemployment rate in my field (IT) in general is only about 3%, even here in CA where the overall rate is 10%. Thanks Dad. Thanks Brother Bede and Sister Bernadette(the math teachers in the Catholic School I went too).
First it is important to note that many schools are implementing math and science initiatives across the nation. For example, I work at a school that has recently become a center of excellence in science and mathematics.
However, it is also important to note that statistics on this topic are often skewed because, although China may provide data on millions of students - more than the overall total population of U.S. students, the data may only test their top 10% of students. China has a larger population, and it does not offer the same educational opportunities to all of its children.
In defense of public education in the U.S., we are trying our best to make sure that ALL of our kids get the best, well-rounded public education that we can offer. And, we are continually improving our practices with professional development and aligning instruction with state and federal curriculum guides.
There is never a one-size fits all answer, but I certainly do not think that U.S. students are at the bottom of the barrel. And, hey, the humanities are important, too! Math and science are great, but let's remember to be "human" once and awhile. :)
(I hope this doesn't sound like a rant...)
I'm not even going to bother "speculating" on this one because I work and study in the school system and I can tell you the reason myself:
We don't teach anything anymore, especially not the necessary skills to critique and understand ideas. All we teach kids in America today is how to take standardized tests and that is all they can do; reguritate information.
That's it.
For an informative article on the situation which explains more about the No Child Left Behind Act and written from teh point of view of an actual teacher, I suggest reading: Why Johnny Can't Fail
And it's not just math and science. I see near-illiterate adults in college classes every week, and some of them are English Majors.
-_-
The aftermath of the Cold War is the main reason, I think, for a deficiency in math and science students. Other countries quickly proved their proficiency to mimic the great "breakthroughs" of the US--Russia's going into space first, the H-bomb, and other examples--leading to a pseudo-psychological depression.
This was also supplemented by our failure to be the greatest and smartest in terms of Vietnam-- one of the biggest outsmarting of America in decades.
Math and science also began to be calculated with war and all of its nefarious effects: going back to the atom bomb and the efficiency of WMDs. The liberal arts offers a greater outlet from these things, at least they did from the 70s-90s, which may have led to this suspicious downturn in math and science that didn't exist in the 40s and 50s.
Three words: Use Dependent Organisation. Your brain will do what you train it to do, and right now that is not what young American brains are being trained to do. I think some of the apologists above have got it half right - there will be a range of achievement, from poor to excellent, no matter what the approach. But many are fundamentally wrong in the belief, expressed in a variety of ways, that education is somehow too inclusive. Do you think the other countries are ahead because they are excluding the middle and bottom achievers? I doubt it - their middle and bottom achievers are simply outperforming the American elite. Who has got it right above? The people who have said, in a variety of ways, that math and science are undervalued. By the system, by society aas a whole. That might be more than 60 seconds (and three words!), and I learned my math outside America, so I have no excuse.
I think Sarah hit it right on the head. I remember when I was in school that's all I did...memorize and cram information...take a test and forget it. Now that I'm out of school (supposedly succeeded) I wish I could remember things I supposedly learned. If I knew how valuable the information I was just "regurgitating" could be for me, I might have paid attention.
Former President turned News Anchor: Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning math and science? Let's cross to our education field correspondent, Lauren Caitlin.
Lauren: Thankyou Mr. President Anchor, uh... Mr. Anchor President. I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because... uh... some people out there in our nation don't have calculators, slide rules, log tables, bunsen burners and beakers... and... uh... I believe that our math and science education, like such as in South Africa and... uh... the Iraq, everywhere, like, such as... And I believe that they should... our maths and science people over here in the U.S. should help the U.S... uh... or, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries... so we will be able to build up our math and science... for our children. Back to you, Mr. Anchor President Sir.
Former President turned News Anchor: Thankyou Caitlin. Learn me math and science once, shame on you... you can't learn, you can't learn math and science again.
I don't see why it matters. I'm sure Americans outrank other countries in something else, so we balance each other out. Everything doesn't have to be a compition. Different people exceed at different things, so as long kid's are being coached to excell at what they're naturally good at, what do test scores have to do with anything?
Teachers in some of the top-ranking math/science countries are paid as professionals. Teachers in the US, according to a recent study, make an average of 80% of what those in comparable professions make.
Teachers in some of those top-ranking countries are hand-picked, from the top of their college classes, and given a top-notch, fully-funded, research-based education. In the US, if a top-notch university student wants to teach, he or she is considered to be aiming below potential.... And the cost of ed school here is enormous.... And most ed schools teach the next big teaching fads, instead of evidence-based techniques.
Yes, the parents have a lot to do with it. Yes, the system is broken in many places. Yes, there are many in power who are incompetent. But how we treat our teachers is the number-one element. We don't pay them or train them well. Can we really complain when half of them quit in the first five years, before they've even had a chance to achieve expertise and excellence?
Being a student in a California public school, my personal insight into the matter is the teachers. Because the state can't come up with enough funds to employ good and interesting teachers, the students become uninterested and lag behind. Students react well with teachers who can make even the most boring subject interesting, and let you have a good time while doing it. Thankfully, I have both really awesome science and math teachers. But it's not that way for everyone.
The reason the United States lags behind in math and the sciences is because of the "bottom-line."
The schools are so focused on bringing in money that they forget to teach. When making cuts they cut teachers and make class sizes larger. Never do they think to cut sports activities, or band, or choir, because these activities bring in the almighty dollar in the form of participation fees and attendance fees.
I actually went round and round with the superintendent of our school district about this. He claimed that they had to make concessions for those students who didn't "get" math.
Talk about dumbing it down.
P.S. This took little over a mintue. I type fast.
It's a money grab. Tests are easier to make grades higher, so then school performance appears better and more money is received from the government. A friend of mine in his 20's has dyslexia and could never read or write, but he was passed through Connecticut's public school system as a solid B student. This fraud steals money from the government and wastes the lives of ignored students.
I have read a lot of excuses and very few ideas for improvement. I shook my head in agreement on some (My Teacher Hat- I'm a teacher, too), but some of you really need to consider where you're getting your insight... Next time we should seek informed ideas on how to create a climate of change (teacher training, teacher pay, recommended number of school days, school start time, PARENT EDUCATION, class size, appropriate funding, supporting public education over voucher/privatizing, NCLB rewrite, special education reform, high-ability/differentiation) There are many baskets for our eggs. Sweeping generalizations do no good.
A child will live up to the expectations that we require of them. Like the economy we are faced with today, I wonder if the we as the generation setting the example, can play a part in those expectations and outcomes? If an adult is led to believe that the economy is doom and gloom and we act accordingly -- stop spending, lay off employees rather than seek opportunity, perhaps the lessens are those we teach. A child will lag behind in anything he is led to believe he can not do.
Oh, I know this was yesterday's prompt, but I must respond to this! And I don't think I'll be making the one-minute deadline. But it'll be my first. So…
As a former math teacher, I have many thoughts on this subject. But in short, it begins with the deficiencies in the teacher's own education in math and science, where, especially in math, the fundamental concepts of number, etc., can never be properly developed in the students by teachers who have the same deficiencies themselves. Why does this happen? Because elementary teachers in the US do not have to specialize in any subject to get their degree and certification. They are taught "education," which boils down to classroom management, with a focus on reading and writing and language skills in the lower grades. Math and science are minor concerns at this point. So not only are they neglected in the students' classrooms, but they are neglected in the teachers' classrooms as well. The teacher of the class your child walks into may be able to teach her or him the multiplication tables, but doesn't necessarily have a firm grasp on the concept of multiplication, etc. This goes as well for science.
At the secondary level, a teacher is expected to have a specialty. I think teachers at the elementary level should have one as well. Then, when your child is learning the fundamentals of math and science that will take him or her throughout his or her life, it will have been based on accurate and deep knowledge gained through study of current research.
OK, that was just my two cents. A day late and a dollar short, perhaps, but I couldn't resist.
Sorry for posting again, I feel it necessary to respond to some comments.
RE: 2cats - the only moneymaker I see that doesn't get cut when budgets to is athletics, and only the sports that are a big draw. Band, choir, theatre, even tennis get the short end of the stick along with anything else 'nerdy'. Football and basketball, though, those are the golden children.
RE: Beth - The "teach to the middle" concept is frustrating for everyone. No one is ever at the middle. The pace is too slow, the content too easy, and the concepts too simple for some--and just the reverse for others. Some people argue that kids get into trouble - I can tell you from experience it's because we're bored whether we can't follow along because we're either so far ahead or so far behind.
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