

A Math Paradox: The Widening Gap Between High School and College Math - gnosis
http://jerz.setonhill.edu/weblog/2009/11/a_math_paradox_the_widening_ga/

======
tokenadult
The book mentioned in this blog post is a pretty good book. I like another
book

<http://www.amazon.com/Algebra-Israel-M-Gelfand/dp/0817636773>

for slightly more advanced math learners, including those I teach in the more
experienced section of the math classes I teach in my town. Below is a set of
quotations and links about math education I send out to parents of newly
enrolled students in my classes:

LINKS ABOUT LEARNING MATH AND OTHER SUBJECTS

I was first introduced to a mathematician writing about how to teach math when
a parent told me a decade ago about the article "Basic Skills Versus
Conceptual Understanding: A Bogus Dichotomy in Mathematics Education,"

[http://www.aft.org/pubs-
reports/american_educator/fall99/wu....](http://www.aft.org/pubs-
reports/american_educator/fall99/wu.pdf)

by Professor Hung-hsi Wu. His writings have been very influential on my
thinking about math education.

A link that furthered my process of pondering how to teach mathematics better
was Richard Askey's review of the book Knowing and Teaching Elementary
Mathematics by Liping Ma.

[http://www.aft.org/pubs-
reports/american_educator/fall99/ame...](http://www.aft.org/pubs-
reports/american_educator/fall99/amed1.pdf)

Another review of that excellent book

<http://www.ams.org/notices/199908/rev-howe.pdf>

is also food for thought.

Professor John Stillwell writes, in the preface to his book Numbers and
Geometry (New York: Springer-Verlag, 1998):

"What should every aspiring mathematician know? The answer for most of the
20th century has been: calculus. . . . Mathematics today is . . . much more
than calculus; and the calculus now taught is, sadly, much less than it used
to be. Little by little, calculus has been deprived of the algebra, geometry,
and logic it needs to sustain it, until many institutions have had to put it
on high-tech life-support systems. A subject struggling to survive is hardly a
good introduction to the vigor of real mathematics.

". . . . In the current situation, we need to revive not only calculus, but
also algebra, geometry, and the whole idea that mathematics is a rigorous,
cumulative discipline in which each mathematician stands on the shoulders of
giants.

"The best way to teach real mathematics, I believe, is to start deeper down,
with the elementary ideas of number and space. Everyone concedes that these
are fundamental, but they have been scandalously neglected, perhaps in the
naive belief that anyone learning calculus has outgrown them. In fact,
arithmetic, algebra, and geometry can never be outgrown, and the most
rewarding path to higher mathematics sustains their development alongside the
'advanced' branches such as calculus. Also, by maintaining ties between these
disciplines, it is possible to present a more unified view of mathematics, yet
at the same time to include more spice and variety."

Stillwell demonstrates what he means about the interconnectedness and depth of
"elementary" topics in the rest of his book, which is a delight to read and
full of thought-provoking problems.

<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0387982892/>

Richard Rusczyk, a champion math competitor in high school and now a publisher
of math textbooks, among other ventures, has written an interesting article
"The Calculus Trap":

[http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Resources/AoPS_R_A_Calcul...](http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Resources/AoPS_R_A_Calculus.php)

I particularly like this article's statement,

"If ever you are by far the best, or the most interested, student in a
classroom, then you should find another classroom. Students of like interest
and ability feed off of each other. They learn from each other; they challenge
and inspire each other."

which is one reason to encourage able math learners to learn together.

Another good article about a broader rather than narrower mathematics
education is

<http://www.math.sunysb.edu/~mustopa/thurston_edu.pdf>

by William Thurston, a Fields medalist.

"Another problem is that precocious students get the idea that the reward is
in being ‘ahead’ of others in the same age group, rather than in the quality
of learning and thinking. With a lifetime to learn, this is a shortsighted
attitude. By the time they are 25 or 30, they are judged not by precociousness
but on the quality of work."

I recently read an issue of the MAA Focus newsletter of the Mathematical
Association of America, and in the newsletter I saw a link to an article by a
math professor

<http://www.ams.org/notices/200502/fea-kenschaft.pdf>

who is very concerned about the quality of elementary mathematics education in
the United States. She provides many interesting examples of ways elementary
teachers can think more mathematically about elementary mathematics and thus
teach better.

A very interesting article about overcoming learning challenges and thriving
from them

[http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2007/marapr/feat...](http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2007/marapr/features/dweck.html)

reports the work of psychologist Carol Dweck, who shows how "growth mindset"
can make learners smarter.

------
yurisagalov
I have a younger sister who is currently going through the High School system
in Canada, and as the son of a Teacher and an Engineer (both of Russian
upbringing), education is a constant hot topic at family gatherings. While we
are not experts on these topics, I'll share some of the opinions that we've
reached.

The education in North America (not necessarily the US alone, I live in
Canada) is significantly lagging behind the rest of the world when it comes to
mathematics. This should come to no surprise to anyone who has studied with
anyone outside of this country. The Asian and Israeli kids (I am singling them
out as I lived in a predominantly immigrant heavy Jewish/Asian neighborhood of
Toronto, so I only have them to compare against) in my High School classes
_consistently_ scored higher than those born in Canada in all math courses,
and this continued throughout my undergrad.

This widening gap between high school and college math is most prominent here,
as compared to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. In my humble opinion, this
is largely due to our policy of "no child left behind" when it comes to
Education and, as a secondary cause, due to Teachers teaching the "Fear of
Math" (I'll get to that later).

As a society, we are constantly attempting to make sure that all our kids have
an equal opportunity at success in life. Pursuing this endeavor, we have
decided that rather than recognizing that everyone has different strengths and
weaknesses, we should level the playing field. But how do we level this field?
We simply adjust to the lowest common denominator. We want our children to
score higher on the standardized tests, and when the scores are low, we simply
make the tests simpler. This lowers the bar so that the weakest links in a
particular subject area can keep up (it also allows politicians to get
reelected and show how "great" of a job they're doing).

I think this is inherently wrong. First, not everyone needs to be educated
with the same level of intensity on a particular subject area. Second, you are
preventing "super stars" in particular areas from ever developing since they
will never get to grow to their full potential. Integration is too hard for
some Grade 12's? Let's remove it altogether. My sister, who is a decade my
junior, will never learn even derivatives in high school. Algebra and
geometry? Gone. My dad's high school ended in grade 10, and by the end of
Grade 10 they have learnt derivatives, integration, and the importance of the
natural logarithm. How many of us in our 20's can say the same thing? Yes, the
drop out rate was higher, and if you didn't push yourself the system sure as
hell did not care, but this is also the system that sent a man who shares my
first name into space.

As a society, we have gone soft. We are babying our kids into believing that
everything is roses. It made me _furious_ when even as early as Grade 4, my
sister would come home with a poor mark and say that it's ok because she "did
her best". Really? What do kids really know about doing their best? _of
course_ if she truly did her best it would be ok and often when I see someone
truly struggling to grasp a concept that they can't I feel both sympathy and
have great respect for them, even if they fail. But at such a young age, there
is no way that anyone knows what "their best" is, and this constant statement
from her teachers is certainly not helping. In fact, I've never heard of
"doing your best" until I immigrated to Canada.

And then, then there's the teachers. Oh the teachers. Few people are as
important to a society's success as the teachers of children. They are in a
_direct_ position to influence and train our minds at a very important stage.
And yet, they are underpaid and disrespected, such that only "those who can't
do, teach" has become an unfortunate reality in many school systems. This is
of course (and luckily) not always true, as some of my closest friends have
dreamt of being teachers for as long as I can remember prior to ever beginning
their Bachelor's degrees. In a high school environment the situation is also
not as terrible as in the elementary schools as the teachers have at least
specialized in the subjects they are now teaching.

However, in the elementary school, the situation is in fact worrisome. Class
coordinators (those that you spend most of your day with), teach practically
everything from Math, to English, to History, at least until grade 5, and
sometimes even through middle school. As such, they are in a particularly
strong position to put the fear of _____ into you. Generally, this happens to
be the "Fear of Math". The teachers may in fact be great educators of English,
and may have a very strong foundation in early childhood education, but
_quite_ often, these same teachers are the ones who were not great at math
growing up, and so they subconsciously teach their own fear and lack of
understanding to the kids. I've seen this first hand from kids who are
_afraid_ of math without having even _tried_ , and it used to baffle me, until
I talked to some of my Math teachers in high school and they explained this
concept to me (yeah, I was a nerd growing up and still keep in touch with some
of my teachers ;)

I realize that I place a lot of blame and offer few solutions. The truth is, I
don't really have many solutions, if I did I would be trying to implement
them. I think the position of teacher should be highly respected -- as much as
a Doctor and/or a Lawyer or even an Engineer. I think this can only be
achieved if teachers are not as heavily underpaid as they are today... I think
that the policy of "no child left behind", is fantastic, but it needs to
incorporate the realization that not everyone is the same.

Finally, I think that Arthur Benjamin's formula for changing math is something
everyone should spend 3 minutes, watch, and think about:
[http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/arthur_benjamin_s_formula_...](http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/arthur_benjamin_s_formula_for_changing_math_education.html)

I'd like to apologize to my sister for singling her out in this post, she is a
great kid with a good head on her shoulder's. I'd also like to apologize to
any teachers that I have inadvertently offended -- I have nothing but the
greatest respect for you and your profession. I have been BLESSED by having
teachers who did not tell me to just "do my best", but rather challenged me at
every turn.

~~~
netcan
As someone who has been through the education system in Israel, I am very
suspicious of anyone claiming anything about Israeli high schools is better.

The state of education there is terrible & getting worse. It is common for
high school students to go to private tutors who in 5-10 sessions can do more
for them then school does in 2 years.

~~~
yurisagalov
I haven't gone through their high school education system, but I studied with
plenty of kids who went through it. I don't know if they went to tutors to be
honest, since it never came up, but many of those who came to us in grade 10
were much further ahead of those of us in grade 10 in the field of
mathematics.

As someone who _did_ study in Israel until the end of grade 6, I can safely
and without exaggeration say that when I started grade 7 here, the material we
were covering in math was equivalent to what I learnt in grade 5. In fact, I
was advised to skip grades, but my parents decided not to advance me as my
English was quite poor at the time.

~~~
netcan
When was this?

~~~
yurisagalov
13 years ago :) Keep in mind, I'm not saying that the High School education
system in Israel isn't going to hell and back. It very well may be. The
purpose of my post was to discuss Canadian/North American education...My
comment on Israel was largely anecdotal in relation to how those kids do in
the Canadian high school education system...

~~~
netcan
Well, if they are doing any worse then Israel, they are in trouble. Israel
requires math to graduate, but the level is not high. It was my experience
that the level is set such that a relatively unmotivated & unintelligent
teenager can pass without listening in any classes by doing some preparation
in the weeks before.

BTW, I went in the other direction about that time & age as you.

------
jey
I think the "Lockhart's Lament" explains a good part of the source of this
apparent paradox: <http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_03_08.html>

For some reason they don't teach math in high school, but instead "math" class
seems to focus on developing your memorization and robotic homework-completion
skills.

~~~
unalone
Anybody who hasn't read this paper half a dozen times should give it another
read. It's a fascinating article that will change your outlook on education a
little bit.

------
gchpaco
Something that burned a friend of mine is that college math is nothing like
high school math even conceptually. She liked calculus and algebra and became
a math major to discover that the math classes she was taking contained very
little algebra and no calculus but required really abstract thinking that she
had trouble with.

I came at this from the other side, where I dislike mathematics and calculus
but love abstract thinking.

~~~
RiderOfGiraffes
The education system is like a low pass filter follwed by a high pass filter.
The people who really enjoy school math, doing sums, applying equestions, get
to university and find it's really hard and abstract and switch courses or
drop out. The ones who might be really good at university style math get
bored, disengaged, and don't do math at university, never suspecting that it's
completely different.

The problem is that school math is trying to accomplish two things at once,
and they're at odds with each other.

On the one hand, regular people who go on to regular jobs need numeracy and
some facility to understand graphs, sums, and to follow a line of reasoning.

On the other hand, anyone going on to the sciences needs a good background in
(school-type) algebra, some geometry, a little calculus, and some statistics.
Way more than most people need in everyday life.

The latter group also needs a glimpse of some cool stuff to keep them
interested. That's why in the UK there are math masterclasses, "Maths
Inspiration", Further Maths, and other groups that try to get kids interested.

------
christopherolah
I'm a high school student presently. The Math is trivial.

The only way to learn anything is to read by myself and audit university
courses.

I'm actually trying to write a math textbook that will actually teach math. If
you're interested email me at christopherolah.co@gmail.com and I'll email you
a copy. Please include `math textbook' in you subject (I get lots of emails).

------
jamesbressi
What is most clever about this article (besides the intense and long dialogue
created by the subject matter which has resulted in some of the longest
comments and replies I have seen for any article) is how his wife purchased
that book for their child.

Think about the reactions many parents would fall to by default: Lecturing
their child that if they want to be "x" they have to do "x" in school.

Or, not taking seriously what their child wants to do in the future or finding
it too much effort to debate why they should be doing their school work
because "kids, teenagers, heck even adults, change their minds frequently
about what they want to do in the future and look at how many college students
change their majors."

That was an impressive solution to the issue his wife pursued and an example
that will stay with me a very long time.

+1 to the author of this post and his wife for parenting ingenuity.

