The statements that he has made by emphatically declaring that acceleration is not needed with the Common Core Maths are supremely irresponsible.
I'm pretty sure you're mistaken. He's referring to
acceleration-itis in American schools, not gifted kids. This problem is widespread and is contributing to U.S. mathematical illiteracy.
Background:
At some point (1980s or 90s?), someone noticed that students who took algebra in 8th grade had higher SAT scores and did better in college than other students. It was decided that
acceleration was responsible for this difference (not smarter students).
An acceleration arms race commenced. When I was a kid, 5-10% of an 8th grade class was allowed to take algebra I. These days, geometry is routinely offered in middle schools, and algebra II is now creeping in. This means that pre-algebra is routinely offered in 6th grade. After all, if algebra in 8th grade improves SAT scores, geometry in 8th grade will improve them even more!
Result: many, many students are losing out on 2-3 years of fundamental mathematics education. The loss of 6th grade math is especially bad, because it cements ideas from 4th and 5th grade math. The problem is compounded by teachers who don't understand the subject matter and bad textbooks. And millions of children are lost to mathematics.
One of my kids is experiencing this mess firsthand. He's verbally gifted but not so much mathematically. He's been forced into pre-algebra in 6th grade.
There is no other option at his school. The teacher clearly doesn't understand some of the basics. Plus, his book is organized as follows:
Chapter 2. Solve equations
and inequalities for x. The Dolciani/Brown algebra books need 3 chapters just to get to solving equations. Inequalities come much later. The next chapter "reviews" decimals. In reality, it reviews a bit and then tosses out complex equation solving with formulas like rate*time= distance (but with decimals in them!
). So we've mixed 5th/6th grade stuff with hardcore algebra.
Chapter 4 is a
mélange. Chapter 5 goes back to basic fractions. Which, of course, you have to understand before you can understand the stuff in chapters 2-4. They have a chapter of geometry in there, too. No explanations, no creation of a foundation for algebra, just an out-of-order memorize-and-regurgitate disaster.
And this is a California-approved textbook.
Millions of American students are being cheated out of a decent math education by wrong-headed ideas about acceleration. They're taught by people who don't understand what they're teaching while using textbooks that are best-suited to a fireplace. And we get kids who earn Bs or better in high school calculus and then fail the pre-calc placement exam two months later in college (even at places like UC Berkeley). This situation effectively shuts them out of STEM majors because many can't afford an extra year (or two) taking remedial math classes. Also, many Americans don't understand how mortgages work, how credit card interest accrues, or how statistics can be used to distort the truth. Etc.
THIS mess is what Professor Wu was getting at, NOT gifted students.
