But don’t get too excited. It’s the same as the old one…My kid has had teachers who liked and understood the math they taught. But not everyone’s so fortunate
Source: Meet the New Common Core
I added,
Prof. Ellenberg, I too am a mathematician, but, unlike you, I have been fortunate enough to have taught at places (an “elite” private university, and, a regional state school) where I have seen the origin of the problem that you focus our attention on: poorly taught teachers.
I use the phrase “poorly taught” because that is what we have, not “bad”, not “lazy”, but “poorly taught” teachers. That puts the responsibility where it belongs: higher education.
Here is a little of what I have seen of the system that produces these teachers. (Details, documents, stories, and more are on my blog, inside-higher-ed )
I have seen professors at “elite” schools getting large “national need” grants to “produce” new “American” Ph.Ds. in math, then granting doctorates to totally unqualified students.
I have seen those students become “professors” at regional state schools where the young people they “teach” have no chance to learn from these unqualified “professors”. Still, many future teachers graduate from these schools.
(On my blog I give examples of how poor these “professors” are. The examples are shocking. For all the mathematicians out there, how about a professor who teaches stats thinking that the CLT states that the sum of normals is normal?)
On top of all of this, even many “elite” schools see their students as only “customers”.
Yes, your son is very fortunate and we are very fortunate that you are willing to point out the real problem. Thanks.
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