Are you giving your kids any summer school work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Math is a disaster in schools” say the people who think worksheets over summer = learning

Well, I think math is not well-taught in US schools and as I mentioned above focus on applied math problems in real life--not worksheets. Actually math is taught poorly in US in part because of an over-reliance on related problem type worksheets--at least in the elementary grades.

Disagree. There are bad math teachers and good math teachers and plenty of ordinary math teachers, at least in the elementary grades. Math is not a disaster in US schools.

in my home country math teachers need to major in math to teach middle school math. oh, and to major in math you need to take more than 30+ college math classes. there is "liberal arts" - when you study math you study math. so the coursework that an average middle school math teacher has taken is similar to phd candidacy level in the US. knowing math does not necessarily mean that you will be a great teacher, but it absolutely is a necessary condition - and a condition that a vast majority of math teachers in the US do not meet.

my own kid's teacher this year is typical. she is bright and could have been a decent math teacher. unfortunately she essentially knows no math. and there is no way to fix that now.

Is your kid in middle school or are you just projecting? Much of this thread seems to be directed towards elementary school math.

my oldest is in third grade. she is already significantly behind (or would have been - if we didn't jump in constantly) in conceptual understanding compared to her peers in our home country.there is no way middle school was going to fix this - they are just forging ahead on the ever weaker foundation. my childhood friends - all of whom now have physics and engineering phds - have older children and say the same thing. what was a small lag initially ballooned over years and required constant remediation from parents.

Obviously we will have to agree to disagree. I don't have a math Phd, only an engineering bachelors degree. I'm comfortable with my kids learning their multiplication tables in 3rd grade. You're not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Math is a disaster in schools” say the people who think worksheets over summer = learning

Well, I think math is not well-taught in US schools and as I mentioned above focus on applied math problems in real life--not worksheets. Actually math is taught poorly in US in part because of an over-reliance on related problem type worksheets--at least in the elementary grades.

Disagree. There are bad math teachers and good math teachers and plenty of ordinary math teachers, at least in the elementary grades. Math is not a disaster in US schools.

in my home country math teachers need to major in math to teach middle school math. oh, and to major in math you need to take more than 30+ college math classes. there is "liberal arts" - when you study math you study math. so the coursework that an average middle school math teacher has taken is similar to phd candidacy level in the US. knowing math does not necessarily mean that you will be a great teacher, but it absolutely is a necessary condition - and a condition that a vast majority of math teachers in the US do not meet.

my own kid's teacher this year is typical. she is bright and could have been a decent math teacher. unfortunately she essentially knows no math. and there is no way to fix that now.

Is your kid in middle school or are you just projecting? Much of this thread seems to be directed towards elementary school math.

my oldest is in third grade. she is already significantly behind (or would have been - if we didn't jump in constantly) in conceptual understanding compared to her peers in our home country.there is no way middle school was going to fix this - they are just forging ahead on the ever weaker foundation. my childhood friends - all of whom now have physics and engineering phds - have older children and say the same thing. what was a small lag initially ballooned over years and required constant remediation from parents.

Obviously we will have to agree to disagree. I don't have a math Phd, only an engineering bachelors degree. I'm comfortable with my kids learning their multiplication tables in 3rd grade. You're not.

multiplication tables in 3rd grade are not at issue here. at all. in fact several kids in my kid's class were taught tables in second grade.

you also accused me of working on worksheets during the summer while in reality i can't wait for the stupid worksheets to stop so my kids and i can spend more time on real math.