a new curriculum
Melissa Anne Bick (bick@OSWEGO.OSWEGO.EDU)
Mon, 15 Apr 1996 20:55:44 -0400
Dear Educators of America:
As educators and members of the general population, we are facing
an educational crisis in our country. Students are doing very poor on
national tests, especially in the field of mathematics, in comparison to
students of other countriess. Teachers (and students) also have to deal
woth the issues of higher droupout rates, lower reading lovels,
illiteracy, innumeracy,violence in scholls, teen pregnancy, the list goes
on and on.
Many members of society feel that it is the job of educators to
tackle these problems and make students successful. I am all for helping
students be all that they can be, I just don't always agree with how
these issues are handled and dealt with. One way to deal with these
issues is to move to a new currivulum that would enable unsuccessful
students to finally become successful.
There are many teaching methods out there nowadays that
"guarantee" better student success. For example, there is cooperative
learning, multiple assessment techniques, and interdisciplinary teaching,
just to name a few. All of these methods stress that students somehow
see the relevance of the material they are being taught; they need to be
able to relate it to everyday life. This sounds like a great plan. It
may even work in other subjects, too.
However, in this quest to "see the relevance," educators want to
do away with many of the "core" subjects (Mathematics, Science, Social
Studies and English) and move to more relevant subjects such as Life
Skills, communication Skills and Problem Solving. This is a wonderful
idea, but only on paper.
Sure, students definitely need to learn life skills to live.
It's obvious some students aren't doing very well now and do need help. The
only problem with this is that I don't really know what "Life Skills" are
and I am doing quite well on my own. So does everyone need "Life
Skills?" I terms of Communication Skills, well, I think students are
taught that in school now. They are taught communication In English and
Social Studies and even in Math and Science. Problem Solving, on the
other hand, is not taught in schools (or so I'm told). I guess they
don't teach that in Math class anymore (or are students not taking enough
Math-which do you think it is?).
Apparently, students do not know how to think logically or
analytically anymore. Could it be due to the fact that students (in New
York State) only need two years of Mathematics and they get away with
taking Business Math and General math, instead of, say, Sequential Math I
or II where logic is taught? Whatever the case may be, educators are
trying to find a way to make things better. You can't blame them for
trying. But come on, will some of these classes make students better
thinkers or will it teach them what they need to survive and that's it?
By moving to a new curriculum and doing away with anything that doesn't
have relevance to students, us mathematics teachers may soon be out of
jobs. (For some reason, students and many educators don't see higher
level math, such as algebra and trigonometry, as "crucial" or relevant.
A double standard is being created by moving to this "new"
idea. The higher ups (e.g. Board of Education Chairmen) want students to
learn higher level thinking that is relevant to their lives. Sounds like
a good plan, but when I took Advanced Placement Calculus which involved a
great deal of higher level thinking, it didn't have much everyday
relevance for me. Oh, I understood how derivatives related to speed and
acceleration and how integration had to do with area under the curve,
but how often did I happen to see a curve when I was at the mall and
say, "Well, to take the area under McDonald's arches, I need to
integrate the equation of the parabola from zero to x and the multiply
by two." Come on, it just didn't happen. Yet, I can think logically
about a lot of issues, from Science to Politics!
What happens to those students who are excellent in Math and
Science? Will they take Advanced Placement Life Skills? Will these
Communications classes really stimulate their mindsas much as a
Calculus class would? Would their minds become mush because they are
not being used to their potential? What about their futures? They
will have the necessary life skills, whatever those may be, but will
they survive in a college setting?
We need to think about our future engineers and phyicists before
we go ahead and move to this new curriculum. Do you think Einstein or
Newton would have done well in these classes? Absolutely not! Neither
one of them had very good communication skills, yet look at the
contributions they made to society. Without their contributions, where
would we be today? In essence, moving to this new curriculum isn't
going to change the success rate of students. It is just going to
raise the success level of the unsuccessful students, while at the same
time, hindering the really bright students. So has anything been
accomplished?
In closing, please don't think that I am against change or
unwilling to see that there are peoblems because I see the problems
everyday when I substitute teach. However, I also was one of those
bright students who sat in many a class bored out of my mind because I
wasn't challenged, so I can see the other side of it, too. Before
forming any opinions, please weigh both sides carefully.
Melissa