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Sure. But this is all supposition dressed up to sound convincing. Here's some of my own, hopefully somewhat convincing as well: Why can't our girls learn math?
by crux_ 17y ago
Sure. But this is all supposition dressed up to sound convincing. Here's some of my own, hopefully somewhat convincing as well:
Why can't our girls learn math? Because they are surrounded by a society where math is frightening black magic, a society which largely looks down upon anyone who is good at math, and particularly so those who specialize in it. This is emphasized for girls; the linked article provided evidence that their math abilities declined in proportion to the amount in which their teacher reflected those societal pressures.
Why do their teachers have math anxiety? See above.
Why are their teachers incompetent at math? See above. Also, their teachers were incompetent at math. (See the exact same referenced article.)
Why do schools hire teachers incompetent at math? Most of all, because math is not valued. But also: Because there aren't enough teachers available to only hire perfect ones. Because the ways of measuring "good at math" are quite brittle, let alone measurements for "good at teaching math."
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In other words, you have your axe to grind (unions) and I have mine (a thoroughly anti-intellectual culture); personally I find mine rather more convincing. Neither was really directly brought up by the article.
[Also, my axe doesn't conveniently align with over-repeated, loudly shouted political talking points, which is nice. ;) ]
- InclinedPlane 17y agoThat may explain why public school teachers do poorly at teaching math. Maybe also science. But it doesn't explain why they are also bad at teaching every other subject, including English, music, and physical education. It's also hard to believe that the modern age, an age where being a "geek" carries an enormously reduced stigma than at any time in the past 4 decades (if not longer) is somehow paradoxically significantly more anti-intellectual than any other time in that range. In short, I find your arguments unconvincing as the explanation for the primary reasons why modern education in America is exceptionally poor compared to recent history. However, the idea that teacher quality has degraded significantly due to decreasing teaching standards and accountability seems to fit all of the observed evidence better.
- crux_ 17y agoAt this point, we're about 10,000 miles away from the actual article -- which did not contain a single mention of overall education quality, not one fact about how education has changed over time, precious little evidence for or against widespread poor teacher quality, etc. The sample size was seventeen, for hecks' sake, and it was about how if you put "math is hard" Barbie up in front of girl students, they do worse at math! > modern education in America is exceptionally poor compared to recent history This is an assumption that you and the grandparent both hold very dearly. But is it even true? Nobody ever provides anything but anecdotal evidence for this claim. A 'debunk' site: http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=6&n=1 http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=6&n=1 Historical literacy rates in the US: http://nces.ed.gov/naal/lit_history.asp http://nces.ed.gov/naal/lit_history.asp If our education is so poor compared to recent history, why hasn't literacy fallen?