I should have explained it better: they start off with a goal of less than five minutes and work to one minute from 0*0 to 9*9 in random order. The others presumably wait around while the rest finish.

I think my point was that this approach kills enthusiasm, and anyway, why didn't these kids learn this stuff in 3rd grade? By the time I was in 5th grade, we were way past 5*4 and 7*9. If an entire class needs to practice this exercise in 5th grade, the school has done something wrong.

I understand that the schools believe they're doing their best and that many teachers are really trying very hard. But that doesn't mean there aren't serious problems, and the educational establishment has to carry a lot of the blame. After all, they're the ones who got us into this mess, not the government. Most students in other developed countries would find our standardized tests trivial because their school systems are far more rigorous than ours.

===> And they do this with less money per student (we outspend almost every other country on the planet), more students per class, and lower or equivalent teacher pay. This information is available from OECD statistics from the PISA exam. <===

I lived in Ireland for many years, and the public schools in the poorest parts of Dublin provide the same high quality education as the ones in the ritzy parts of the city.

Ireland has two levels of courses students can take in high school: "Pass" or "Ordinary" and "Honours".

Here's a link to a YouTube video with some examples of what
they learn in ORDINARY maths. Contrast with US exit exams asking for students to calculate the interest on a bank deposit. Watch and cry.



Val

Last edited by Val; 04/07/08 01:04 PM.