Mathematics Education in America: A Troubled System in Need of Change
On a trip to Fidler concrete in Goshen, Indiana, a man ordered forty feet of rebar for home use. When he went to pick up the rebar, the adult employee in charge asked the man what size pieces he would like. The man asked for six-foot sections. The employee furrowed his brow and said, “Now, if it were five foot sections, that would be ten of them for forty feet, right?” The man replied, “No, ten of the five footers would be fifty feet.” The employee pondered that and said, “So in the six-footers…Ah, I’ll just give you twelve. That should be enough.” This is a true story.
In this one experience, the employee showed a lack of ability to multiply, add, or logically reason that with bigger sections, the number of pieces needed to make forty feet would decrease. This is disturbing. Just as one would expect an adult to know how to read, to know who the President is, and to be able to find his home state on a map, one would expect an adult to be able to multiply six times seven. The Fidler employee was obviously not taught sound mathematical reasoning in school. Unfortunately, as much as the current educational system tries to neglect the value of math, its importance is inescapable, especially in today’s modern society. The time has come to reintroduce the public to mathematics, and the way to do it is to establish more and better math classes in American schools.
The most disappointing aspect of mathematics education in the United States is the overwhelming apathy toward the subject. It is not that America hates math, but rather that America does not even care enough to form a strong opinion. Taking this apat...
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...ties of the people he serves and continues to develop himself in service of others. As a professional, a soldier lives these words through action.
Windsor, D. (2001). The future of corporate social responsibility. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 9 (3): 225-256.
A soldier’s “greatest fear is not death but failure, and the shame that accompanies failure. More than anything else, warriors fear letting themselves down and letting their leaders and friends down at a moment when it matters most. They fear most not losing their lives, but their honor” (Nash, 2007, p. 25).
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Skemp, R (2002). Mathematics in the Primary School. 2nd ed. London: Taylor and Francis .
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