Originally Posted by HowlerKarma
Being taught the material by someone who understands it well beyond the level covered by the class text/curriculum seems pretty crucial to me, too.

I think the fact that many primary teachers (and a few secondary ones) don't have a good grip on the underlying math themselves is probably a huge part of this problem.

I'm not really surprised by that observation, incidentally. My own mom was a terrible person to be teaching math beyond basic operations. Luckily, she taught K-2, so it was okay. But I had plenty of experience socially with her friends who were no more capable, and some of them were teaching 3-6. tired

We should stop expecting elementary school teachers to be experts at all subjects and have them specialize by subject, such as English, social studies, science, or math. The current system where students have a single teacher for all subjects makes sense if teachers are regarded as surrogate mothers and not just instructors. Since my eldest has more trouble remembering where his jacket is and putting it on than with fractions, I understand that elementary school teachers play a dual role smile.