the blumenfeld education letter august 1

8/7/2019 The Blumenfeld Education Letter August 1

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The B lumenfeldEducation LetterV ol. 6 , N o.8 (L ette r # 60 )

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." HOSEA 4:6August 1991E D IT O R : S a m u ell. B lu m e nfe ld

Thepurpose of this newslettter isto provide knowledge for parents and educators who want to save the children of Americafrom the destructive forces that endanger them. Ourchildren inthe public schools are at grave risk in 4 ways: academically,spiritually, morally, and physically - and only a well-informed public will be able to reduce these risks.

"Without vision, the people perish."

The G reat American Math D is as terWhen Newsweek begins to sound like

theB lume nfe ld E du ca tio n L e tte r when describ-ing the failures ofpublic education, then wecan assume that the most ardent defendersof the public schools among our business-men and politicians and journalists arewellaware of the seemingly insoluble problemsthesystem faces.However, when it comes tosolutions, that's where we differ quite radi-cally.Weare always amazed at how readilyand uncritically the powers that be acceptthe solutions offered by the educators. Con-sidering how much emphasis the edu.catorsare placing on critical thinking these days,it's amazing how littleofit isbeing exercisedby the many intelligent people who are in aposition to judge what the educators aredoing. And so, it is left tous todo the criticalthinking. What follows, then, is theNeiosioeekreportofJune17, 1991,interspersed with ourcritical comments:

How bad are eighth graders' math skill s?Sobadthat half are scoring just above the proficiency levelexpected of fifth-grade students. Even the best stu-dents did miserably; at the top-scoring schools, theaverage was well below grade leveL Hardly anystudents have the background to go beyond simple

computation; most of these kids can add but theyhave serious trouble thinking through simple prob-lems. These grim statistics, released in June in the firstlarge-scale state-by-state study of rna th achievemen t,prompted Education Secretary Lamar Alexander todeclare a math emergency in the nation's schools."None of the states are cutting it," he said. "This is analarm bell that should ring all night throughout thiscountry."What's really frightening about these results isthat the alarm has been ringing since the 1983 publi-cation of "A Nation at Risk," the federally sponsoredstudy that highlighted vast problems in the publicschools. Yet despite years of talk about reform - andgenuine efforts at change in a few places - Americanstudents are still not making the grade and remainbehind their counterparts in other industrializednations.

It's refreshing tohear our new Secretaryof Education declare a "math emergency."And what's the cause of this dismal failureon the part of our students? Read on.

Most mainstream educators already agree thatAmerican math instruction needs a drastic overhaul,with more emphasis on group problem-solving andcreative thinking rather than repetitive drills. Butlocal schools continue to resist these prescriptions."It's like we have a cure for polio, but we're not givingthe inoculation," said BillHonig, California's super-

The Blumenfeld Education Letter is published monthly. Sources of products and services described are not necessarily endorsedby this publication. They are intended to provide our readers with information on a rapidly expanding field of educational activity.Permission toquote isgranted provided proper credit isgiven. Original materialis copyrighted by The Blumenfeld Education Letter.Subscription Rate: 1 year $36.00. Address: Post Office Box 45161, Boise, Idaho 83711. Phone (208) 322-4440.


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intendent of schools. Fewer than a third of the stu-dents surveyed regularly spent time in small-groupwork and the vast majority had never done mathe-rnatics projects or wri tten reports on rna thoAnd mostmath classes are still mired in the Victorian age,eschewing the use ofcalculators and computers. Abouta third of the students had never used a calculator inmath class and two thirds had never used a computer.Educators say too many children are wasting timepracticing adding, subtracting, multiplying and di-viding when they could be moving on to more inter-esting and challenging math.

It's amazing what a short memoryNewsweek has of math instruction inAmeri-can schools. Forgotten is the disaster calledthe "New Math" which swept throughAmerica's elementary schools like a hurri-cane during the Sixties and Seventies, up-rooting the last vestiges of traditional arith-metic. H the educators were wrong then,what makes anyone think they are rightnow?

When educators complain that childrenare "wasting time practicing adding, sub-tracting, multiplying and dividing," it'sobvious that these educators do not under-stand what arithmetic isallabout. Inthe firstplace the word "arithmetic" is no longerused by our educators, and I doubt that fewif any of them would even be able todefineit. But there is a very important differencebetween arithmetic and mathematics, and ifyou don't know the difference you will notbe successful in teaching either.

Our arithmetic is an ingenious countingsystem which uses 10 symbols and placevalue for all of its notations and operations.As such it isprobably the diamond ofhumanintellect, aninvention which permi tshumanbeings to perform any counting feat withmere pencil and paper. But the key to itsproficient use incalculation ismemorizationof the basic arithmetic facts. H you don'tmemorize the facts, then you are stuck inunit counting and you might as well use anabacus. Memorization requires rote drill,which is the easiest way to learn anything,

provided it is taught correctly.Theproblem with American educators

is that most of them not only don't knowwhat arithmetic is,but they don't evenknowhow to teach it. When educators think thatchildrencanlearn tocomputewithout memo-rizing thearithmetic facts, they aredeludingthemselves and cheating the children.

Why is it important for children tomemorize the arithmetic facts? Becausememorization will give them mastery of thesystem. They will become aware of thenumber patterns throughout the system, beable to discover short cuts, and develop asystem of cross checks should their memo-ries fail them at any point. Also, once thearithmetic facts arememorized through drilland practice with pencil and paper, they willlater be able touse calculators and comput-erswith accuracy, spotting their errors whenthey make them, always able todo the calcu-lations on paper ifnecessary.

What is thedifferencebetween arithme-tic and mathematics? Arithmetic is a count-ing system. Inaddition we count forward, insubtraction we count backwards, in multi-plication we count forward in multiples, indivision we count backwards in multiples.Fewofus usealgebra, geometry, trigonome-try or calculus. But all of us must use arith-metic - to do our tax returns, figure outmortgages, balance our checking accounts,use credit cards, make change, etc. So ifev-eryone must use arithmetic, why don't theeducators stress the need to develop goodarithmetic skills?

Mathematics, on the other hand, dealswith relationships. Itmay use arithmetic insolvingproblems, butitis quite distinct fromarithmetic. Our educators have destroyedthedistinctionbymixingarithmetic andmathtogether so that students don't know whereone ends and the other begins. The result ismass confusion, not only for thechildren butthe public at large. Read on.

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The math study, part of the National Assess-ment of Educational Progress (commonly called theNation's Report Card), was administered last year toarepresentative sampling of126,000studentsin publicand private schools. Students in three grades ~ 4,8and 12~ were tested. The eighth-grade results haveattracted themost attention because the scores werebroken down by state for the first time since theinception of the test in 1973. State politicians origi-nally lobbied Congress to forbid the release of thiskind of detail, because they feared a backlash fromoutraged voters. Thirty-seven states, along with theVirgin Islands, Guam and the District of Columbia,finallyagreed toparticipate. The13states that refusedcited various reasons, most often a lackof funds. Par-ticipation cost each state $100,000.

Most educators predicted a poor showing onthe math test, but the final tally was worse thanexpected. "Don't let the fascination with 'which statedid better than which state' blind you to the state ofthe forest," says Chester E. Finn [r., author of ''WeMust TakeCharge: Our Schoolsand Our Future" andaleading advocate ofnational testing. "The forest diddismally." Even in the top states ~ North Dakota,Montana and Iowa ~ only a tiny minority of eighthgraders scored above their grade level. The lowestscoring eighth graders could only do second-gradework. SaysFinn: ''Weare on various positions on thecellar stairs."

Analysts emphasized that the math problem isnationwide. Only 14percent of eighth graders scoredat the seventh-grade level or above ~ and that in-cludes students in well-regarded, wealthy suburbansystems. The study showed that only 1 percent ofeighth-grade students in one state, Virginia, wereready for calculus.

Why did eighth graders do so poorly,even inwealthy suburban schools? Becauseofbad teaching. Even in the top states, onlya small minority of eighth graders scoredabove their grade level. Obviously, wheneven the richest and brightest fail, one can-not blame it on rate memorization when wearetold that rotememorization iswhat makestheJapanese student somuch better than theAmerican. Our prognosis is that America'sconfused pedagogy produces confusedteachers who in turn produce confused stu-dents.

Money alone doesn't seem to be the

answer. Finn notes that the highest-rankingstate, North Dakota, is 32nd in terms ofper-pupil spending, while theDistrict ofColum-bia, which spends the most per student, issecond to last. There is even compellingevidence that the longer kids stay in school,thefarther they fallbehind expected achieve-ment. For example, the majority of fourthgraders (72percent) tested at or above thethird-grade level, and 11percent scored atorabove the fifth grade level. But by the timestudents reach the end ofhigh school, manyhave fallenfar, farbehind. Only 46percent of12thgraders candoseventh-grade work andonly 5 percent can do precalculus work.

Why is it that the longer the kids stay inschool, the worse they do inmath? Becauseif there is littleor no foundation, they cannotbuild on anything solid. If teachers do noteven know how to teach simple arithmeticeffectively, how can we assume that theyknow how to teach algebra, or geometry, ortrigonometry effectively?

Instead ofresponding with defensive criticism,most educators seemed to welcome the test as acIeareyed look at the status quo ~ and an opportu-nity tostart over. 'We've all been led tobelieve thatwe were above average," said Francie Alexander,California's associate superintendent of schools."These results should take care of that myth." Somepotential criticism may have been defused by thestructure of the test, which reflects the most currentthinking on what an exam should contain. The ques-tions were designed to evaluate problem-solvingability, not just mere computational skills; in fact,every student had a calculator at his side. The onlyother available state-by-state comparisons are collegeboards like the SATand the ACT,but those are onlyfor students going on to college ~ a self-selected-group. The national math test is a random samplingof all kinds of students taking the same test at thesame time.

Now we're told that the students whotook the test had calculators at their sides. Inother words, they needn't have memorizedthearithmeticfacts! And they stilldid poorly.And since students did poorly everywhere,

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the blame cannot be attributed to socio-eco-nomic dispari ties.Apparently, in their questfor equity, the educators are making surethat no child is deprived of his dose of edu-cational malpractice.

Almost immediately after the results wereannounced, schools began announcing blueprints forchange. In California (ranked in the bottom third),officials said they would revamp their junior high-school curriculum by stressing real-life problem solv-ing, use of calculators and computers, and writing.about mathematics. Honig said the program willbegin in 100 schools in the fall, and branch out fromthere as textbooks are ordered and teachers are re-trained to use new techniques and curriculum.Bill Honig, of course, is the California

superintendent who tried to closedown theInstitute for Creation Research, believes inwhole language, opposes ChrisWhittle's planfor private schools, and is now going torevamp the math curriculum in his juniorhigh schools.Thisquintessential bureaucrat,who has been superintendent ofCalifornia'sschools for a good many years, has just dis-covered that the students are failing inmath.Why did he need a national test to informhim? How come he didn't know how mathwasbeing taught alltheseyears inhisschools?Aren't superintendents supposed to knowthis? And, now, why the mad rush for newtextbooks (which usually take years to de-velop) and new teaching techniques beforethey've been sufficiently tested tosee if theywork? Theanswer must be that Mr.Honig isa phony who pretends to know what he'sdoing.

While these changes may help, other datagleaned from the study indicates that curriculumreform by itself won't cure everything. A range offactors, from income level to television habits to par-ents' marital status, were linked with performance.Alexander called this the "91 percent factor," refer-ring to the 91 percent of students' time that is spentoutside school. "The only ones who can do somethingabout these results are first, the students, then, theirparents, the schools and the communities," he said.

Students with higher scores tended to haveparents with some ed ucation beyond high school andwere more likely to live with both their parents. Thesestudents also reported doing more homework, miss-ing less school and watching fewer hours oftelevisionthan students who had lower scores. Across the coun-try, eighth graders watched at least three hours oftelevision a day, but in the lowest-scoring schools,such as the District of Columbia, students said theywatched six or more hours per day. Eighth graders inprivate and parochial schools had slightly higherscores than public-school students although the dif-ference was reduced by grade 12.

After telling us that failure inmath wasa national phenomenon affecting rich kidsand poor kids alike, we are now led to be-lieve that socio-economic conditions maysignificantly influence a student's perform-ance. If low-scoring students in the DistrictofColumbiawatch more televisionthanhigh-scoring students in suburbia, itmay be thatthe poor kids have fewer opportunities forsaferecrea tion than thestuden tsinsuburbia.Thelatter may watch less television becausethey are spending more time playing tennis,softball, soccer, icehockey, attending danceclasses, practicing a musical instrument,taking riding lessons, or bagging at the localsupermarket.

Not surprisingly, Asian-Americans did bestoverall, with scores in all age groups significantlyhigher than any other racial or ethnic group. How-ever, Hawaii, the state with the highest proportion ofAsian-Americans (67percent), was one of the poorestscoring states. One possible explanation: Hawaii'sAsian-Americans include many who have been inthis country for several generations. This may indi-cate that assimilated Asian-Americans perform justlike other Americans. The results showed no differ-ence between the performance levels ofgirls and boysin grades four and eight; however, in the 12th grade,boys did better than girls - suggesting that culturalpressures don't kick in until high school.While the task of overhauling math instructionmay seem monumental, educators say itis urgent-and essential- if the nation is to compete in a globaleconomy. "Until recently, the public was perfectlyhappy with students who could do the basics ofadding and subtracting," says Shirley Hill, chairman

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of the National Research Council's MathematicalSciences Education Board. "Now we realize howmuch more students need to know, and people aregoing tobeupset that they don't know it." Inmost ofthe rest of the world, adding and subtracting areconsidered merely steps in mathematical mastery,just as spelling and grammar are the building blocksof literacy. Many so-called reforms are standardprocedure in other countries. Honig says that in Ja-pan, students routinely talk and write about math,and work with real-life examples.

Iwonder where Shirley Hill got the ideathat "until recently the public was perfectlyhappy" with students who could add andsubtract. Complaints about the decline inmath ability have been heard since the NewMath carne and went. In 1983, John Saxonwrote:"For thelast twen tyyears, these (mathe-matics) experts have worked unwittingly tobring matters to apoint where only the bril-liant can learnmathematics. They have triedto teach advanced concepts and a generaloverview before the student has learned thebasics.... In an important sense, these au-thors are experts neither inmathematics norineducation. Theydonot knowwhich mathe-matics topics must be mastered at: whichlevel and have no understanding of thecapabilities of the average student. Theirbooks arevisible proof that they donot knowhow children learn and assimilate abstrac-tions." (National Review, 8/19/83)

In 1986, Saxon wrote in the Wall StreetJournal:

"I have just reread the California De-partment of Education'S new regulation formathematics. It requires that calculator in-struction be included in every elementary-school textbook approved in the state....Common sense tells us that ifcalculators areapproved andmade availabletooearly,manycapable students will resist doing the ardu-ous paper-and-pencil practice that is neces-sary todevelop the mental skills of arithme-tic. Then these students will be unable todo

simple computations in their heads, and,worst of all, they will not be able toestimate.... I believe that this California regulationwill do great damage in alISOstates ....

"Something isdreadfully awry inmathe-matics education in America. A December1981 issue of The Mathematics Teacher re-ported the results of anational test inwhich82% of theAmerican 17-year-olds tested didnot know what theword "area" means. Lastyear the results of a test of mathematicalability of students in 24 nations were re-leased. The500 classesofAmerican studentsthat participated scored near the bottom oftheWestern nations and just aboveSwaziland-75%oftheJapanese students scored higherthan the top 5% of the American students.How much lower will they score after theCalifornia calculator plan is implementednationwide?" (WSJ,5/16/86)

Well, now we know the answer. Areyou listening, Mr. Honig? Are you listeningMs. Hill?

In this country, teachers say they're most opti-mistic about the performance of children in the earlygrades, where reforms are more widespread. Youngkidsareused tohands-on rnathematical-leamingtools,such as blocks, puzzles and games, that make num-bers relevant and fun. Today's first and second grad-ers are on the cutting edge, says Iris Carle, presidentof the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.Soon these young children will be corning into themiddle schools," shesays, Ifand they willforcechangebecause of their personal experience with criticalthinking and application of real-life math skills."

When the president of the NationalCouncil ofTeachers ofMathematics tellsyouthat today's first and second graders are "onthe cutting edge," you know she's full ofbaloney. First and second graders arehardlyin a position tobe inventive pioneers, creat-ing the new and untried. Nor can they becritical thinkers for the simple reason thatthey lack theexperience and maturity neces-sary for an adult thinking process. First andsecond graders learnby imitation, and that is

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acquiring enough computers, he said. Theprogram depends now on outside ?rantsand increased training for teachers In thelower schools. (Middlesex News, Framing-ham, Mass., 7/4/91)

V i t a l R e a d in gMathematics: Is God Silent? by James

Nickel, Ross House Books,P.O. Box67,Val-lecito, CA 95251,126pages.

WhenIwas asked someyears agobyDr.RJ.Rushdoony to read this book inmanu-script and evaluate it, Ifound it so veryfascinating that Iwholeheartedly recom-mended it for publication. And now that ithas been published Irecommend that it beread by anyone and everyone involved inteaching or learning mathematics, particu-larly Christian educators and home-school-ers.

The author asks: "How many Christianparents, students, and educators are therethat can articulate a biblical approach tomathematics let alone affirm that there issuch a view?" Obviously, not many. Hewrites: itA biblical Christian teacher willnotbecontent toteach students just themechan-ics of mathematics. A vast gold mine ofhistory, philosophy, and breathtaking reve-lations of the manifold wonders of God'screation liebehind themathematical formu-las. Inorder for the student tosee these richnuggets, the teacher must beskilled in 'pros-pecting/ so to speak. For example, the sur-face beauty of a rainbow is appreciated byall. ... But,buried in thisbeauty, and uncov-ered only by the industrious researches ofthe mathematician, lies a marvelous com-plexity and order. Before the eyes and mindof the student, the teacher must dig up thesetreasures and bring them to the surface,"

Thebook is divided into two parts. Part

One gives the reader an overview ofmathe-matics history and philosophy, while PartTwodeals with mathematics teaching. Con-cerning the latter, Nickel quotes Larry Zim-merman who wrote: IIIf mathematics is thebasis ofcreation, itsnature revelatory ofGodand its purpose is toglorify God; the Chris-tian teacher must desecularize mathematicsfor his students. Thatis,hemustpolishawaythe. patina of secularization with whichmathematics has become encrusted so itstrue, God-reflecting nature shines through."

Inreading this book, one issurprised todiscover how deeply religious were someofthe great scientists and mathematicians ofthe past. Indeed, they marveled at God'suniverse. Isaac Newton wrote in Principia:

"This most beautiful system of sun,planets, and comets could only proceed fromthe counsel and dominion of an intelligentand powerful Being.... This Being governsallthings, not as theSoulof theworld, but asLord over all."

Johannes Kepler, who developed thefamous laws of planetary motion, wrote: "Ifeel carried away and possessed of an unut-terable rapture over the divine spectacle ofthe heavenly harmony."Today's public schools tell the childrennothing about the religious lives of thesegreat men, and, in doing so, remove fromthesehistorical figures their spiri tual dimen-sion. There is nothing more damaging tochildren than delibera telydepriving them ofthespiritual content ofwhatever it is they arelearning. But that's what secular educationdoes. Hopefully, this book can repair someof the damage.

Finally, as Dr. Rushdoony has writtenin The Philosophy of the Christian Curriculum:"For the Christian, mathematics is not

the means of denying the idea ofGod's pre-established world in order to play god andcreateour own cosmos, but rather isameanswhereby we can think God's thoughts after

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Education Letter, Pg. 8, August 1991

Him. It is a means towards furthering ourknowledge of God's creation and towardsestablishing our dominion over it under God."The issue in mathematics today is rootand branch a religious one."

CorrectionIn our June issue, #58, we gave an incor-rect address for Ross House Books. The cor-rect address is P.O. Box 67, Vallecito, CA95251.

LA Schools Adop t Bullet D rillsWith the spread of gang violence ininner cities, some schools are adopting the"duck and cover" nuclear bomb drills of the1950s to protect children from the moreimmediate threat of neighborhood shoot-ings. Inwhat teachers call a "gang-drop drill"or a "bullet drill," children in some schools inhigh-crime areas are taught to drop flat onto

the floor "so the bullet would fly right acrossyou," as one fourth-grader put it.Some teachers say they keep their stu-dents away from windows and teach themto "slither like a snake" if shots are firedwhen they are in the playground.Teachers and administrators are reluc-tant to discuss such safety measures for fearof alarming the public, and the extent of thedrills is impossible to quantify.Donna Madath, a third-grade teacherat the Wadsworth Avenue Elementary Schoolin a high-crime area of Los Angeles, calledthe procedures "the new generation ofbomb-shel ter drills."Her colleague, Connie Covert, said theway the school bell rings tells students whatto do. "The fire bell goes ring-ring-ring," she

said, "but our gangster bell is riiiiiiing, and itdoesn't stop, and what happens is that whenyou hear that bell you go flat on your face."Twice last year, she said, she put thedrill into practice when shots were fired asthe class was playing kickball on the broad,exposed playground."You hear bang-bang - or pop-pop ismore what it sounds like - and all the kidsdrop flat down and cover the backs of theirheads," she said. "They are supposed to waitfor my signal, but they know much moreabout this than I do, and usually I end upsaying, Was that gunfire?' And they'll say,'Yeah, that was gunfire.'"In this atmosphere nationwide, moreand more schools are closing their campusesto outsiders, hiring armed security guards,banning gang-style clothing and, in at least23 districts around the country, using metaldetectors to scan for weapons.At the Charles A. Lindbergh MiddleSchool in Long Beach, Calif., officials spent$160,000 three years ago to build a 10-foot-high, 900-foot-Iong, 8-inch-thick concretewall to protect children on the playgroundfrom gunfire at a nearby housing project.

In Sherman Oaks in the San FernandoValley, amiddle-class town that has remainedrelatively insulated from urban crime, par-ents at one junior high school mobilizedthemselves into a campus security patrol lastmonth after the apparent gang shooting of astudent in the school yard.Bob Terte, a spokesman for the NewYork City school district, said that a varietyof security measures are used, includingmetal detectors in 16 schools, but that thereis no district wide policy of drills related toviolence.But he said that the drills could be in usein individual schools or classrooms and dis-trict officials might not know of them. (IdahoSta tesman, 6/16/91)

"- The Blumenfeld Education Letter- Post Office Box 45161 Boise, Idaho 83711 -,

the blumenfeld education letter august 1

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