Bill brings up an interesting point. I have some reservations about the
whole national mind-set regarding education:
1. I distrust test scores immensely. I don't know that the low test scores
you mention really indicate that students aren't learning math.
2. Almost anything taught in isolation has the potential of becoming boring
(shen I teach theatre, it's always in a larger context -- that's the
advantage of teaching the arts, I suppose; they don't exist in isolation).
3. People can't count change for a number of reasons that don't have as much
to do with math as to do with the way we go about our daily lives. We have
come to expect many things to be done for us, including having the change
counted.
I guess I'm moving into a political arena that is beyond the scope of ATEG.
I certainly have some issues about education, but I can't see them as
separated from a larger social-economical-political sphere. AS far as mere
grammar is concerned, I'd really like to see if there ARE ways to teach it
as a discrete skill, just as one would teach music theory, calculus, AP
Chemestry, etc., ... not for the sake of better writing or reading, but for
the sake of understanding language (and therefore, the human mind).
Paul
Paul E. Doniger
The Gilbert School
Winsted, CT
"The proper study of mankind is Man" -- Alexander Pope
----- Original Message -----
From: William J. McCleary <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2001 9:46 AM
Subject: Re: Grammar and Literature -- Help Please
> Sophie write:
>
> >As soon as `the teaching or grammar' crops
> >up the `in isolation', `dead boring', etc.
> >allegations also rise. Why does this not
> >happen when people talk about teaching mathematics?
> >
> >We really ought to face the fact that grammar as a
> >school discipline is an approach to Linguistics in no
> >lesser measure than school maths is an
> >approach to Mathematics.
> >
> >By the same token, do we ever doubt that school maths
> >will result in students' better ability to count small change?
> >Why then do we doubt that students' better ability to write
> >will be the result of their being taught grammar?
> >Sophie
>
> Math is under attack for the same reasons as grammar: that it is taught in
> isolation and it is boring, etc.
>
> It's under attack because so many students fail to learn it. Just check
out
> the math scores. They are generally terrible, except among those with an
> aptitude for math.
>
> As for students' ability to count small change, you have only to notice
> that cash registers now do all the figuring for cashiers--yet many
cashiers
> still have trouble counting the change to you.
>
> So it comes about that, as with grammar, there is now an effort to reform
> the teaching of math. The main proposal is that teach math in context and
> in practical situations.
>
> Bill
>
> William J. McCleary
> 3247 Bronson Hill Road
> Livonia, NY 14487
> 716-346-6859
>
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