MS#126. The Trouble with Math, 2008

In: Courtney Sale Ross Festschrift, to appear

Subjects: Math Education

Written: April 19, 2008

Abstract: Math education in the United States has serious problems, well known and progressing since the 1950s. Math disfunctionality, including innumeracy, math anxiety, and the math avoidance reflex, have become a national disgrace. The resulting rigid standards and tests have only made things worse, and this downward spiral is now spreading to Europe and Asia as well. In this essay we propose a program in which math problems may be avoided by adherence to an historical approach (following a chronological order based on world cultural history), the use of multiple modes (especially, multimedia and computation), and a return to Euclid (geometry before algebra).

[PDF] 18 pages, 168 KB