Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion APS article on math ed: A Math Paradox

That helps, Dottie. Thanks. I have been fretting over this for a while.

You know, it's funny how most of our problems seem to occur because he's ready for something and I'm not!

Oh right graphing! If only I had access to that "brilliant" friend's email outbox.....

I agree with the first statement and have been horrified by the math phobia I've seen from some teachers. While retired engineers could make good math teachers for students whom math is intuitively obvious, it can be a pretty bad fit for struggling math students.

It would be better to have teachers like John Mighton who initially struggled with math but overcame through perseverance. He developed the JUMP (Junior Undiscovered Math Prodigies) program and wrote The Myth of Ability. I expected to disagree with much of the book based on the title. It was not what I expected and he asserts young children are capable of understanding advanced mathematics, but doesn't ask students who have fallen behind to struggle with open-ended problems without guidance.

The majority of the book is a step by step logical approach for teaching mathematics. Dottie, it may be a good resource for the girl you are tutoring.

Your book suggestion does sound interesting, Inky.

I�ll admit to being a weak math student (thought to be underachieving due to high math reasoning scores in K-12. In college, my psychology professor guessed I must be math LD after some IQ testing). In any case, the only time I understood math well was on the few occasions, usually the night before a test, when my parents asked the engineer neighbor to work with me for an hour or so.

I wish every school could waive the certification requirement to allow at least one retired engineer on staff for the math dept.

Yeah, I�ve seen that before at a public elementary school, primarily SAH Mothers, who held technical degrees and either volunteered or worked part time in the school being referred to as �paraprofessionals� by the teaching staff.

Hi Guys

I have to agree with what Cathy wrote on page one of this thread. Majority of people will never be developmentaly ready for Calculus. Yet we push it, push it like crazy.
From what I am seeing right now it is becoming a norm, not a high standard to take Calculus in HS. It will not lead to anything good.
Even on this site, and I know that majority of you will disagree with me , I am seeing this huge push to do more complex math early on. Why? I have been for years advocating problem solving.
I have one very high ability math kid and another that is right where she should be, being a bright kid. I so regret starting my, then 5th grader - 10 year old, in Algebra 1. It has lead to problems that I was not able to forsee then.
My now 7th grader is in Algebra 1 with majority of other 7 graders. I think that the brilliance of my first kid has actually done disservice to the school! Now most 7th graders take Algebra and really, really strugle with it! A good friend of mine who teaches math at the parochial high school told me a few years back that she is not going to put any freshman higher than Algebra 2. Now, a few years later she is forced to placed them in pre-calc! Sometimes a good number of freshman, just because they have finished Algebra 2 in elementary school.
Now, and do not think that I am elitist, I firmly believe that a kid like DS happens one in a 1000 or less (probably way less). But the parents, stupid parents, see that there was this kid at school that just wheezed through math and they want their kid to follow the path. Last year, when my DS was an 8th grader, there were two kids in his class that doubled up on math. In elementary school! Just because their parents thought that they can't be that far behind Ghost in math!
So to those that still believe that walking at 6 months or reading at 1 year means that one can do Calculus in elementary school - good luck How old was Einstein when he started talking
Problem solve!

About retired engineers teaching math.
My husband, an electrical engineer, showed me this article ones. It was by the retired CEO or another O of Lockheed. The guy did have original degree in engineering. He is or was a presidential advisor etc, etc. He wanted to give something back to the community and asked to be a part time math teacher at his local school. He was told he lacked credentials (certification?)
Princton took him instead as a guest lecturer...

Raising my hand too!
P.S. I'm not sure I could go back to work for another bureaucracy though. It may be better to stick with being a volunteer.

Two thumbs up!

^^ thanks