2+2 vs. 2*2. An epidemic
I have tutored Maths and computers subjects to undergrad students since 2003. During my time I have noticed a few things. I am noticing more and more pattern of "memorizing" rather than "understanding" the concepts. This is causing the students in our school system to become more and more of robots who're unable to think for themselves. I'm not a teaching major and nor do I have statistics, I am merely sharing what I have seen over the decade.
A simple example: 2*2=4. Most students who graduate from HS (hopefully) know this. You ask them why is 2*2=4, some of them will simply say "Because it is..." or some will point to their calculators or cell phones doing the math for them. Very few of them will be able to explain multiplication as a form of addition which translates to basically meaning 2+2=4.
Nowadays, everybody is seeking success from their children. They just want to have winners who will have a 6 figure income but our teachers are focused on making the kids memorize everything rather than making them think of the concepts. And why shouldn't they? Higher test scores means more money from government and more donations from parents/Alumni. Our parents are so busy they either a) Do the homework FOR the kids or b) write a check to the tutor who will then once again make the student memorize for the immediate up coming test to keep his/her job.
Why are we not focusing on creating quality students who can think for themselves? Rather than taking them through the way, why are we not showing them the way, making them learn from their mistakes and setting them up for success in the far future?
tl;dr: Please, let the kids nowadays think for themselves. Teach them to question things. Teach them to ask why. Don't convert them into a audio CD who just says whatever you recorded into them.
End rant. Yes, this was bugging me enough to write an entire post about it!
A simple example: 2*2=4. Most students who graduate from HS (hopefully) know this. You ask them why is 2*2=4, some of them will simply say "Because it is..." or some will point to their calculators or cell phones doing the math for them. Very few of them will be able to explain multiplication as a form of addition which translates to basically meaning 2+2=4.
Nowadays, everybody is seeking success from their children. They just want to have winners who will have a 6 figure income but our teachers are focused on making the kids memorize everything rather than making them think of the concepts. And why shouldn't they? Higher test scores means more money from government and more donations from parents/Alumni. Our parents are so busy they either a) Do the homework FOR the kids or b) write a check to the tutor who will then once again make the student memorize for the immediate up coming test to keep his/her job.
Why are we not focusing on creating quality students who can think for themselves? Rather than taking them through the way, why are we not showing them the way, making them learn from their mistakes and setting them up for success in the far future?
tl;dr: Please, let the kids nowadays think for themselves. Teach them to question things. Teach them to ask why. Don't convert them into a audio CD who just says whatever you recorded into them.
End rant. Yes, this was bugging me enough to write an entire post about it!
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Replies
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This is why my children will not be going to a state school. State schools are just about memorising, and being academically able.
I want my child's education to be looked after holistically, and I want them to learn important life skills that don't just include how to do their times table, or what molucules react with what.
I didn't really enjoy state school, as I felt my education wasn't looked after. I'd get told to put my hand down for asking too many questions, and there was rarely time for discussion. It was all just about retaining this information that is told to you, day after day.
My children will be unschooled or Steiner educated.0 -
Well I remember doing something similar to this a long time ago and you have to go into the complex range and use set theory (ZF) to explain properly otherwise your always making assumptions.0
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This is why my children will not be going to a state school. State schools are just about memorising, and being academically able.
I want my child's education to be looked after holistically, and I want them to learn important life skills that don't just include how to do their times table, or what molucules react with what.
I didn't really enjoy state school, as I felt my education wasn't looked after. I'd get told to put my hand down for asking too many questions, and there was rarely time for discussion. It was all just about retaining this information that is told to you, day after day.
My children will be unschooled or Steiner educated.
I have to disagree. I went to public school, graduated with honors and I could probably run circles around a lot of kids in private schools academically. The difference? I LEARNED the things taught in school. Its a lot about the type of student and less about the school. Granted, the public school system can leave a lot to be desired when it comes to they way things are ran, but I don't like blanket statements about public school education.
To the OP. While I'm sure that the basic concept of what any type of equation is explained, something like 2*2 is learned in elementary grades. I can understand where the literal definintion of a multiplication problem may have been tucked away and forgotten some 15 or so years later.0 -
On one hand, I agree. On the other, in today's world, it's not about how you got the answer, it's about knowing the right answer and also who you know.0
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I have to disagree. I went to public school, graduated with honors and I could probably run circles around a lot of kids in private schools academically. The difference? I LEARNED the things taught in school. Its a lot about the type of student and less about the school. Granted, the public school system can leave a lot to be desired when it comes to they way things are ran, but I don't like blanket statements about public school education.This is why my children will not be going to a state school. State schools are just about memorising, and being academically able.
I want my child's education to be looked after holistically, and I want them to learn important life skills that don't just include how to do their times table, or what molucules react with what.
I didn't really enjoy state school, as I felt my education wasn't looked after. I'd get told to put my hand down for asking too many questions, and there was rarely time for discussion. It was all just about retaining this information that is told to you, day after day.
My children will be unschooled or Steiner educated.
To the OP. While I'm sure that the basic concept of what any type of equation is explained, something like 2*2 is learned in elementary grades. I can understand where the literal definintion of a multiplication problem may have been tucked away and forgotten some 15 or so years later.
I take it you're referring to Government funded schools? Because here, public schools are private schools.
And I ALSO LEARNED the things I was taught. I have always loved learning, and have always been smart. I missed a whole year of year 10 because I ran away from home, but I still finished with 5 As, 3Bs, and 2 Cs, and this is without any revision. So please don't insinuate that I couldn't/didn't want to learn or that I was the wrong type of student.
And I still maintain what I said.0 -
At college (I'm from the UK so I was like 17 at the time) we had an exam in Psychology which involved literally memorising SEVENTY-TWO CASE STUDIES and just writing down everything we could remember about them. Needless to say, I failed, as did most people I think!
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the uk education system is having a swing back. I used to work with parents with school aged children to help the parents learn the skills to support their children in maths and English. Many of the parents could remember learning things like long addition/multiplication etc however they had learnt to do the maths in set ways and could not cope with different methods. In addition they did not have the underpinning knowledge of why! I was taught in the same way myself. These days children are now taught a range of methods to 'do' sums and are also taught the underpinning basics too so parents have struggled to help their children, especially when it looks like kids are doing long sums to get simple answers lol. (decompesition/compartmenting etc..) Fortunately family learning addresses this for the parents so they can keep up with their children. The same goes for grammar too!0
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Because in the US people are judged by how much they have and how they look first and foremost. Now while that may also happen in other countries, there isn't any other place in the world I've personally lived in where "keeping up with the Jones" is so important. So important that parents are WILLING to commute and work longer hours to live a lifestyle that they really can't support, so they intern spend less time on actually educating their kids or even trying to learn more themselves.
Also it's in the genes too. Not trying to stereotype, but genetics are involved in how one actually learns and comprehends problems.
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Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
I have to disagree. I went to public school, graduated with honors and I could probably run circles around a lot of kids in private schools academically. The difference? I LEARNED the things taught in school. Its a lot about the type of student and less about the school. Granted, the public school system can leave a lot to be desired when it comes to they way things are ran, but I don't like blanket statements about public school education.This is why my children will not be going to a state school. State schools are just about memorising, and being academically able.
I want my child's education to be looked after holistically, and I want them to learn important life skills that don't just include how to do their times table, or what molucules react with what.
I didn't really enjoy state school, as I felt my education wasn't looked after. I'd get told to put my hand down for asking too many questions, and there was rarely time for discussion. It was all just about retaining this information that is told to you, day after day.
My children will be unschooled or Steiner educated.
To the OP. While I'm sure that the basic concept of what any type of equation is explained, something like 2*2 is learned in elementary grades. I can understand where the literal definintion of a multiplication problem may have been tucked away and forgotten some 15 or so years later.
I take it you're referring to Government funded schools? Because here, public schools are private schools.
And I ALSO LEARNED the things I was taught. I have always loved learning, and have always been smart. I missed a whole year of year 10 because I ran away from home, but I still finished with 5 As, 3Bs, and 2 Cs, and this is without any revision. So please don't insinuate that I couldn't/didn't want to learn or that I was the wrong type of student.
And I still maintain what I said.
I never insinuated anything about you. What I disagreed with wasState schools are just about memorising, and being academically able.
I don't know why you took what I said as a personal attack on you. I was mearly defending a public education against a private one.0 -
I teach 5th grade math. I try to help fix this issue before it progresses much more, but I see lots of examples where students have no idea what they are doing and the smart ones are good at mimicking. Our state testing is moving towards constructed response with the new common core math standards. Currently, it is strictly multiple choice. This may or may not fix the problem, but this definitely is an issue with understanding simple mathematical concepts.0
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I have taught every level from grade school through graduate school and tutored dozens of students in math, and I can agree with the OP 100%. It's sad what is going on right now. Although, it is a joyful and wonderful thing to see those light bulbs of real learning go off in a student's head. I wouldn't trade that for anything.0
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To the OP. While I'm sure that the basic concept of what any type of equation is explained, something like 2*2 is learned in elementary grades. I can understand where the literal definintion of a multiplication problem may have been tucked away and forgotten some 15 or so years later.
Well, that was just an example about concept learning vs. memorizing to show my point. However I as a masters student STILL to this day find uses of such concepts. These things made my life 10 times easier. Maths became a joke for me during undergrad because it was just too easy. Why? Because I knew the simple concept of "Everything in maths is addition". Yes, everything in maths is addition. A concept that made me see things much more clearly than somebody who tucked away and forgotten.0 -
Getting my education from Asian and Britain have opened my eyes to the differences in how testing is done there and in US. One big difference is that in US, they're tested primarily via multiple choices, true/false etc but you goto most other education systems outside US and you'll be demanded to write essays and you have to SHOW your work done. The only thing multiple chocies and true/false is accomplishing is making the lives of instructor easy due to scantrons etc but in the meanwhile, students only have to memorize keywords and bam! They can pass the test.I teach 5th grade math. I try to help fix this issue before it progresses much more, but I see lots of examples where students have no idea what they are doing and the smart ones are good at mimicking. Our state testing is moving towards constructed response with the new common core math standards. Currently, it is strictly multiple choice. This may or may not fix the problem, but this definitely is an issue with understanding simple mathematical concepts.
I'm to be honest a bit glad by the responses that I'm not the only crazy person in the world who's seeing this as a problem...0 -
I'm to be honest a bit glad by the responses that I'm not the only crazy person in the world who's seeing this as a problem...
I'm working with a student now who is prepping for her state exam in Algebra 2. She's very smart, but it's absurd how her teacher grades. If she arrives at the answer correctly but not using his exact step-by-step process (even if her reasoning is correct) he gives her no credit. It's all about memorizing some canned strategy not understanding.0 -
I'm to be honest a bit glad by the responses that I'm not the only crazy person in the world who's seeing this as a problem...
I'm working with a student now who is prepping for her state exam in Algebra 2. She's very smart, but it's absurd how her teacher grades. If she arrives at the answer correctly but not using his exact step-by-step process (even if her reasoning is correct) he gives her no credit. It's all about memorizing some canned strategy not understanding.
One of the instructor did that to one of the students I was tutoring. I actually took him to the Dean. My boss at college was mad at me for that but I could care less. I taught the student the correct way, just different technique.0 -
I'm to be honest a bit glad by the responses that I'm not the only crazy person in the world who's seeing this as a problem...
I'm working with a student now who is prepping for her state exam in Algebra 2. She's very smart, but it's absurd how her teacher grades. If she arrives at the answer correctly but not using his exact step-by-step process (even if her reasoning is correct) he gives her no credit. It's all about memorizing some canned strategy not understanding.
One of the instructor did that to one of the students I was tutoring. I actually took him to the Dean. My boss at college was mad at me for that but I could care less. I taught the student the correct way, just different technique.
Unfortunately, I can't do that. This is a high school student, but I advised her parents about it and have been trying to teach her the "teacher" method of things, which she gets just fine, but doesn't prefer just so she is ready and doesn't fail her class.
Stuff like this is why I refuse to teach high school full time. I would kick someone if they told me my students had to do it their way or the highway.0 -
I'm to be honest a bit glad by the responses that I'm not the only crazy person in the world who's seeing this as a problem...
I'm working with a student now who is prepping for her state exam in Algebra 2. She's very smart, but it's absurd how her teacher grades. If she arrives at the answer correctly but not using his exact step-by-step process (even if her reasoning is correct) he gives her no credit. It's all about memorizing some canned strategy not understanding.
I never undersood this. The whole time through school, you had to show your work, not one of my teachers gave credit for a page full of answers.0 -
I'm to be honest a bit glad by the responses that I'm not the only crazy person in the world who's seeing this as a problem...
I'm working with a student now who is prepping for her state exam in Algebra 2. She's very smart, but it's absurd how her teacher grades. If she arrives at the answer correctly but not using his exact step-by-step process (even if her reasoning is correct) he gives her no credit. It's all about memorizing some canned strategy not understanding.
I never undersood this. The whole time through school, you had to show your work, not one of my teachers gave credit for a page full of answers.
It's not about showing her work. She can show her work and proceeds in a logical and sound fashion to arrive at her answer. It has to be done EXACTLY according to his guidelines or no credit given. It's irritating beyond belief.0 -
I have a sneaking suspicion that many replying here don't actually have school-aged kids.
It's all well and good to plan what kind of future your kid has scholastically... but you have no idea what kind of student you've gotten until he/she is in school. I loved school, I consider myself a lifelong learner... I assumed that this would translate into having kids the same way. But I have one with a learning disability who struggles daily and one who floats through.
Consider your kids and their needs before you consider what type of schooling YOU want for them.0 -
I just started teaching this year and this is pretty much the only reason I'm not going to continue into that field. It's nearly impossible to teach calculus or pre-calculus to students who don't know basic concepts like this. It's also unfair to the students. When you're a certain age and you don't know such elementary concepts its easy to be discouraged. Trying to teach integration to someone who doesn't understand fractions is pointless.
The problem is the schools are pressured to pass students and its all about the schools numbers. It's easier to "coach" the students to score high on tests than it is to actually teach them the material.
Another problem is many teachers don't know how to teach. I'll admit myself that I don't know how to teach math to someone with such a weak mathematical foundation in the time restrictions I'm given. The only way I'd be able to teach the material fully would be to start from the beginning and re-teach all the basics. A few hours a week just isn't enough to teach all the math that someone should have been learning since middle school.0 -
I have to disagree. I went to public school, graduated with honors and I could probably run circles around a lot of kids in private schools academically. The difference? I LEARNED the things taught in school. Its a lot about the type of student and less about the school. Granted, the public school system can leave a lot to be desired when it comes to they way things are ran, but I don't like blanket statements about public school education.This is why my children will not be going to a state school. State schools are just about memorising, and being academically able.
Agreed. I've been all over the board when it comes to schooling (public, private, alternative, accelerated learning, homeschooling), and in my experience, the quality of education offered by my public high school was excellent... but as Rachel said, it had less to do with how I was taught and more to do with how much I wanted to learn. If a teacher did not explain the material clearly, I would research it independently until I felt that I understood it. If I thought that I was getting too caught up in rote memorization, then I would go deeper into the subject on my own time. Success generally comes to students who continue to educate themselves both inside and outside of the classroom.0 -
If all kids will go on to do in later life is deal with their personal finances, sure a calculator is fine.
But for those like me who end up going to something like engineering, without a solid grounding in WHY mathematics works, they wouldn't last five minutes.
Fortunately for me, I'm ancient enough to have had the benefit of reasonable basic maths tuition, plus an enquiring mind to fill in the gaps where necessary.0
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