Reach back into your memory and think about elementary school. Envision all the fun and inspiration posters taped on every wall. Think about the point system charts documenting you and your peer’s behavior. Now think back to math time. Do you remember anything about what you learned? To be honest, I don’t. But I know that I must’ve learned addition, subtraction, multiplication and division at some point. As well as what fractions and shapes are. But other than that, I don’t know what elementary school was about. Thankfully I’d say I’m alright with math now.
But that is not the case for many Americans. The nation has a math problem, ranging from elementary school to adulthood. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, only 39% of the nation’s fourth-graders scored at least proficient in math. In an exam given to teennagers of 79 different countries, the US ranked 31st. This is a worrying and unacceptable trend for us. As one of the wealthiest countries in the world, we should be at least proficient in math. There is another level of irony. The United States is renowned for housing the best universities and academic institutions in the world, math included. According to US News, six of the top seven mathematics departments are American. At the upper echelons, our nation is great at math, but why are our primary schools, the most fundamental basis of the education process, falling behind?
It’s a mix of cultural and curriculum issues. First I will discuss the curriculum. Some experts vehemently dislike the common core. Despite pushes for standardization, the common core hasn’t improved standardized test scores by much. Furthermore, teachers can view it as a bunch of red tape that prohibits them from teaching more applicable life related content. This relates to a whole different avenue of policy. Some educators and policy analysts, such as University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt, want to reform the curriculum. They want to teach more statistics and data science related topics such as how to read graphs and charts. He argues that knowing how to read graphs and summary statistics is the most useful math skill for the average person. I disagree and agree with this. Knowing how to read a graph or use excel probably is the most important math the average person will need to do. I also agree that at some point in a student’ childhood, they should learn how to analyze data in the form of visuals. Science class happens to be a great place for that. I would also support phasing in introductory concepts like what Levitt argues for within the math curriculum (it was in my high school). But I would not want that to detract from the common core. Concepts such as algebra, geometry and even pre-calculus are vital for futures that will require heavier use of math. They are fundamental and need to be taught.
Math culture on the other hand is a completely separate issue.
I think that the common core was a good idea, but it has been proven to not work. I look at a nation like Finland which has one of the best education systems in the world, and I wonder why we don’t just copy some of what they do. They pay their teachers more and give them more respect as a profession. As you pointed out we are one of the wealthiest countries in the world that houses some of the best universities, there is no excuse for our school children to be so bad at basic math.