The Breakdown of Math Classes

  I watched Dan Meyer, a high school math teacher; talk about when he realized that the math classes in high school are not teaching kids to actually use math, but just spoon-feeding the kids answers, and what he decided to do about it. What he was saying was true and fit in with how I feel about school. He used the analogy that, “As a math teacher he sells a product to a market that doesn’t want it but is forced by law to buy it.” This is essentially the way that I feel about math and math class. I don’t want to go to or need this class but I have to go through with it because I am required to. The most surprising part of this talk was how my own feelings about math were exactly the ones that he presented to the audience, “Students have a lack of initiative, perseverance, and retention.” He goes to work everyday knowing that right after he explains something, someone will have that exact question, because as students, we don’t care enough to actually listen. He also brings up that students have an “aversion to word problems”, which is surprising to me, because I find these the easiest, and the have an “eagerness for formula”. How could we not, though, when we are raised in a society where a TV show has 3 commercial breaks, a laugh track, and then the problem that the characters face is solved? Students want math to be immediate and have a satisfying closure, even though most times it won't be. Another thing he brings up that I absolutely agree with is how bad the textbooks that the math teachers use are. I’m sure that you agree that when you are flipping through the book and you see a problem like “how long will a barrel with these measurements take to fill up?” you think, “When will I ever use this?” There is the beauty of what Mr. Meyer is bringing to the math classroom. He will make the student ask the questions to find the answers. In the case of the barrel with water, he will film a video of a container being filled up excruciatingly slowly and then when he shows it to the class, it will evoke a “how long will it take to fill this up??” That is the student catching the bait that he has set, because then they will calculate the problem and watch the video to the end so the students can see how long it actually took. This way the answer is what will actually happen, not just some theoretical answer placed in the back of the book, well within the student’s reach. The best part of this video is how familiar everyone is with this topic, like Mr. Meyer said, whether you liked it or not, you went through with math class. It seemed to me like because he is a teacher; he was easy to listen to and was (obviously) very knowledgeable and passionate about what he was talking about. The thing with the way math is taught is that it is not kept in a student’s mind. I’m sure that over summer break I lost over half of the things I had learned in 8th grade. The way that this knowledge is so easily forgotten is a sign that something is wrong with the way that it is taught. Sure, students may remember how to apply Pythagorean’s theorem up to the next unit test, but past then is what really matters, how well it is remembered for use when it is actually applicable, if it ever is. In relation to A Whole New Mind, Mr. Meyer is proving that even though the system is pushing out Left-Brainers, and not Right-Brainers, in some cases, the school isn’t even teaching math, a logical, left directed thing, properly. It is frightening to me, as a student, to see how ineffective the school is at teaching things that they should be good at, I mean, if I’m not actually going to remember what MX+B is equal to, and how to use it, then why am I here? As students get older they realize that they cannot use the things they learning in the real world, therefore they are rendered useless in their minds. We, as a part of the school system, need to insist on a better math curriculum to help people recognize that math is applicable and relevant in the world.