Sorry for the snark, but you did say elementary school teachers need to know calculus.
Okay, that was a misunderstanding because I added that bit about calculus to my reply to you. No, I don't think that K-3 teachers should know calculus. What I was trying to say was that they should have more than a high school education and that they should understand math several levels above what they're teaching. Algebra 1 and geometry would be reasonable, given that the elementary curriculum draws on both subjects. But IMO, they should know these subjects WELL, and they should also understand the foundations of what they're teaching. It's not rocket science, and I agree that this is where their own educations are playing a role in the problem. Somehow, we have to break the cycle.
Bostonian has said that our schools should hire math specialists to teach math. I agree. If teaching through grade 6, they'd have to show proficiency way above that level (precalc? Differential calculus?). If they don't know what's coming, they can't teach what kids need to know to succeed at the higher levels. I think that extra training about fundamental ideas in elementary school mathematics and how to teach it is also very important.
I also don't understand how you can hold teachers individually responsible for not understanding things that, as the paper points out, were poorly taught to the teachers to begin with, in the same system they are now contributing to.
I think a person who wants to be called a professional should be able to 1) recognize that not understanding a subject at the level being taught (e.g. MoN's post) is not okay, and 2) take steps to learn the material (e.g. Khan Academy, Math Is Fun, Summer Workshops). Again, it's not rocket science.
I'm not trying to say that lack of knowledge isn't the only problem with our teacher corps. You made a good point about political motivations on the school boards. There's also Richard Feynman's
analysis of textbook selection, which is still true 50 years later.
So they attend an Everyday Math seminar, have an overdue epiphany they call "number sense," and think that's something they should have gotten as 8yos. And they have a good point... it's just that EM is well-suited to teaching that to adults, not to 8yos.
I agree there.
