This is a comment I had posted on Matt Walsh's blog post, here. I really this post, and below is how I connected to it, in a shortened expression. Long story short, our government is pushing too hard. If it wants us to beat the scores of China or Japan, then it would have to change a lot about our society, not just push students who don't feel like they're getting anything out of it.
I know I'm not.
Be sure you read Matt Walsh's post before reading the below, parts of it will make more sense then.
"Oi, do I know it…
I’m in 11th grade, and have never been a math person. My geometry experience wasn’t very good, but I’m in Algebra II now, and we are using something called CPM- College Prepatory Math.
These text books:
*Don’t provide examples
*tell the teacher to NOT interact with or explain things fully to students (bless my teacher for ignoring this rule)
*expects EACH AND EVERY student to be able to do every single problem on their own without being shown how to do it first.
*the homework has about 2 or 3 problems from the actual classwork ,and then several problems that come in later in the book, while expecting you to do and get them ALL correct.
I’ve never liked math, and despite not having the best geometry experience last year, I could understand some things (it was mostly because it was the teachers first of teacher ever. He really did try, bless his heart, but he wasn’t ready for highschool students), but with CPM’s “amazing, ever-so-glorious, the only way to teach kids” methods, the only reason why I understand anything at all i because my teacher is ignoring the part where it told him to not help us.
This kind of textbook should not be used to teach. It isn’t a tool for teaching, as much as the creators of it would like to say otherwise. It. Simply. Isn’t. You cannot give a whole class room of people, all of whom have different levels of understanding and different ways of learning, the same problem, and expect them to know EXACTLY how to solve it in the blink of an eye. I, myself, need to be walked through every new thing that comes up, which is why I can’t do the homework very well.
CPM, though called a “teaching tool” is not such. It can be useful in challenging students who are looking to take math in college, or who want to challenge themselves AFTER they have already taken the math course (NOT from CPM, but from something that can actually teach.)
But it ties into what you are saying here, that the government is trying to push the kids of this country into competing with everyone else, like the CHinese and other Asian countries. But they don’t seem to realize that the way highschool and college works in most Asian countries is VERY different to how it works here. They also don’t realize that, the more they push us, the more likely we are to break. Our society doesn’t make this kind of learning a big deal as it is in Asian countries, and, quite honestly, I just want to WRITE. I want to write stories, articles, ANYTHING. I don’t CARE about finding the solution to (x^2+3x+25)=(34x^2-67x+9), especially only to find that there is no solution. Thanks, CPM, I was worried that I was wrong, because you never told me about the possibility of no solutions. Great teaching methods! I never cared much for math, and never will. I realize the benefits of higher level math, such as better problem solving skills, but FORCING someone into something as rigorous as CPM when they don’t even intend to take math in college (*GASP* how dare I plan my OWN FUTURE!!!) is not going to make them better problem solvers, it’s going to make them feel lost and confused, and will wear them out mentally, physically, and emotionally (I know from experience).
Long story short, the way the common core is changing, the government had better have been hoping for its country wide scores to drop, because breaking young, vulnerable, emotional students is not going to help the US compete against all those smarter countries. Thank you for this article, it really hit the spot!"
I know I'm not.
Be sure you read Matt Walsh's post before reading the below, parts of it will make more sense then.
"Oi, do I know it…
I’m in 11th grade, and have never been a math person. My geometry experience wasn’t very good, but I’m in Algebra II now, and we are using something called CPM- College Prepatory Math.
These text books:
*Don’t provide examples
*tell the teacher to NOT interact with or explain things fully to students (bless my teacher for ignoring this rule)
*expects EACH AND EVERY student to be able to do every single problem on their own without being shown how to do it first.
*the homework has about 2 or 3 problems from the actual classwork ,and then several problems that come in later in the book, while expecting you to do and get them ALL correct.
I’ve never liked math, and despite not having the best geometry experience last year, I could understand some things (it was mostly because it was the teachers first of teacher ever. He really did try, bless his heart, but he wasn’t ready for highschool students), but with CPM’s “amazing, ever-so-glorious, the only way to teach kids” methods, the only reason why I understand anything at all i because my teacher is ignoring the part where it told him to not help us.
This kind of textbook should not be used to teach. It isn’t a tool for teaching, as much as the creators of it would like to say otherwise. It. Simply. Isn’t. You cannot give a whole class room of people, all of whom have different levels of understanding and different ways of learning, the same problem, and expect them to know EXACTLY how to solve it in the blink of an eye. I, myself, need to be walked through every new thing that comes up, which is why I can’t do the homework very well.
CPM, though called a “teaching tool” is not such. It can be useful in challenging students who are looking to take math in college, or who want to challenge themselves AFTER they have already taken the math course (NOT from CPM, but from something that can actually teach.)
But it ties into what you are saying here, that the government is trying to push the kids of this country into competing with everyone else, like the CHinese and other Asian countries. But they don’t seem to realize that the way highschool and college works in most Asian countries is VERY different to how it works here. They also don’t realize that, the more they push us, the more likely we are to break. Our society doesn’t make this kind of learning a big deal as it is in Asian countries, and, quite honestly, I just want to WRITE. I want to write stories, articles, ANYTHING. I don’t CARE about finding the solution to (x^2+3x+25)=(34x^2-67x+9), especially only to find that there is no solution. Thanks, CPM, I was worried that I was wrong, because you never told me about the possibility of no solutions. Great teaching methods! I never cared much for math, and never will. I realize the benefits of higher level math, such as better problem solving skills, but FORCING someone into something as rigorous as CPM when they don’t even intend to take math in college (*GASP* how dare I plan my OWN FUTURE!!!) is not going to make them better problem solvers, it’s going to make them feel lost and confused, and will wear them out mentally, physically, and emotionally (I know from experience).
Long story short, the way the common core is changing, the government had better have been hoping for its country wide scores to drop, because breaking young, vulnerable, emotional students is not going to help the US compete against all those smarter countries. Thank you for this article, it really hit the spot!"