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3.0 out of 5 stars
Too Many Anecdotal Experiences. A Lot of Information I Disagree With, But Good Book Nevertheless., June 18, 2011
This review is from: What's Math Got to Do with It?: How Parents and Teachers Can Help Children Learn to Love Their Least Favorite Subject (Mass Market Paperback)
What's Math Got to Do with It? is a good book to read if one attempts to stay updated with current trends in mathematics education among K-12 students. However, much of the examples is frankly normal, and remedies pointed out are better applied in idealistic situations. What Jo Boaler is trying to convey in her hopes of better mathematical education doesn't realistically work at all. Her ideas are better suited for top 10 to 20% of the mathematics students in the country, but forget about it for the rest of them. They don't care about the subject or have better priorities regardless of the effects on their lives. I know anyone can learn mathematics, but it's really up to them if they are motivated to do so. That's the more ultimate problem facing children today: what is their motivation in life? And the ultimate problem facing educators today is: how can they motivate their students to find education all important? Yes, highly trained/qualified teachers, especially in mathematics, are greatly needed because what matters the most is: pedagogy. To me, pedagogy is excellent among K-12 teachers as compared to university professors, but the latter group is so horrible, thus creating many tuned out college students and possible aspiring math majors. So either a student is one of the strongest surviving members of the process of earning a mathematical degree or is turned away to easier majors. It could be that IQ may be in play. But at college levels, I still suspect that bad pedagogy is more of a factor. Why is this important, you ask? Well, the nation wants highly trained mathematics teachers. Then, this is an area where you get the best of the best. I am sorry to say that teachers who majored in mathematics education while at same time taking so few albeit simple mathematics classes aren't worth it; yes, there is a certain percentage of them that will go on to be outstanding mathematics teachers, but let's be real: there is a great reason for them to take the easy way out. They are just inferior when it comes to working with mathematics of all levels, from arithmetic to advanced calculus including real analysis, modern algebra, modern geometry, and differential equations. The nation need teachers who are masters of science and art of computation and application of theories. Those are the one that can convey mathematical ideas with confidence and ease to younger students because they've been there before; they did all of the work, the toil and the thousands of pages worked on. Ultimately, what's left is pedagogy. Sadly to say, it's an area that is often very neglected at university levels, especially in graduate school. It's like saying, "Congratulations! You can do the math," but there is, "But can you teach it as well as you can do the math?" That takes confidence too.
Elsewhere in the pages, the author mentions the ability grouping to be a damning effect on all students. To be honest with you, life will always be like that. Students who scored well on mathematics portion of a national assessment test will always be placed into an accelerated paced class from the beginning because they care about their education, consciously or not, more than other distractions that go on in their lives. That's why they took school more seriously than their peers. When every freshman enters high school, they can make choices and be given more power to control their education. For example, everybody in my class of 525 students was given a piece of paper. For English, we had a choice of picking level 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 English where 1 is Honors and 5 is the most basic. For Science, one can take level 1 to 5 earth or physical science or biology which was one grade ahead than normal. For math, it was level 1 to 5 pre-algebra, algebra, or algebra II (which was one grade ahead). Everybody picked what they wanted, and of course, the most popular pickings were: Home Economics, Woodworking, Photography, etc. when they could have picked more academic classes. Similarly for college, people pick what they want. Usually, it's geared towards to Communications, English, Media, etc. That's how life is: people usually want the easy way out, avoiding hard work as much as possible. Why? Because they want to enjoy life more, at least that's what they think.
One thing the author talked about in her book is a topic that I never gave any thought about which is about gender differences and how learning is different for girls from boys. That was a pretty good education for me. I just didn't realize about it.
I understand that Jo wanted to have fun with seemingly advanced mathematical problems incorporated in the book. Sorry, many students today don't care about them, and quite frankly, I don't even care about them. These students are still struggling with how to add 1/4 to 2/5 or how to do 3 - 17 x 2 + 15 / 3. As she mentions that rote drill-drill-drill is too damaging and terrifying for many students in mathematics, I am sorry to say, but that's reality. If one cannot master basics and concepts of arithmetic and algebra, there is just no way of progressing to Calculus and beyond unless a student's IQ is like 150 or higher or is a Ramanujan or Will Hunting and is able to prove mathematical theories or create new mathematics. Basically, it takes a caring teacher with excellent pedagogy to get the students trained, even through rote drill-drill-drill, and be ready for tougher problems and critical thinking. Otherwise, Woodworking sounds like a great idea.
Finally, no research is provided by the author; just all anecdotal experiences. Sorry, that's not good enough for me. What she said about tracking and detracking...not true. False. Wrong. I just thought it would have been more interesting if the author could instead examine what works and why in Asia and compare them to the traditional ways in USA. My beliefs will probably be met: hard work produced by the students is the difference. All in all, good book...I enjoyed it, but it was too long for me.
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