I respond to the Tuesday op-ed column “Common Core would benefit the common good” by Charles M. Blow. He said most Americans have not heard of the Common Core.
The core recommendations are available online. As a retired mathematics/science teacher I am puzzled by various aspects of the core math materials I have read.
One recommendation that bothers me is that all students take Algebra 2 or an equivalent class. Rather than list specific criticisms of this notion, I’d like to direct readers to a fine article entitled “Wrong: the Case Against Algebra 2” in the September issue of Harper’s Magazine.
Politicians and school administrators believe that every student profits from struggling through higher-level math classes. A lot of frustration is all that happens to many students.
My experience in tutoring math students is that most of them need to master what sixth-graders are supposed to know. They should be able to read rulers (English and metric), protractors, levels and perhaps Vernier and micrometer calipers.
I’m appalled when junior high and high schools sell off valuable shop tools and eliminate the “ manual training” of long ago. As a wise man (and retired shop teacher) told me last year: “The Chinese sell us a lot of goods, but so far they are not selling us houses.” The people who build our houses need the practical math skills of shop classes, not any knowledge of logarithms or Gaussian distributions.
I also am bothered by the frequent use of the word modeling in the math core curriculum. The term is not defined.
I have seen physics students use motion detectors to learn how falling bodies gain speed or how weights bouncing on springs behave. If one inserts this contact with reality into a math class, it demands a lot of time and expensive equipment. It all hints of a return to the discredited 1960s “ Discovery Method” of teaching math.
In summary, officials and educators in Ohio might have stepped backward if they really think that Algebra 2 is for everybody. I hope readers will check the core curriculum information online and decide for themselves how progressive the ideas are.