

Former IBM CEO on why Americans are bad at math - byrneseyeview
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1213/p09s01-coop.html

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axiom
Here is a link to the report:
[http://www.oecd.org/document/56/0,2340,en_2649_201185_340162...](http://www.oecd.org/document/56/0,2340,en_2649_201185_34016248_1_1_1_1,00.html)

The statistics speak for themselves, but his reasoning is totally out of touch
with reality. Math teachers in Canada don't make any more than teachers in the
US (less probably.) But Canada is ranked towards the top. Why? No one places
the blame on the most obvious culprit - the teaching methods. What you're
seeing here is the legacy of progressive education which placed more emphasis
on "socializing" students than on actually teaching them. This is the cult of
self-esteem, where the goal of making the student feel good about himself
trumps things like standards and discipline.

