Andrew Hacker: Is Algebra Necessary? (PUUUUUUUUKE)

[LWolf]

17. It drives me crazy that my middle school students come to me with no mental math skills.

I don't teach math any more, but I've been shocked at how calculator dependent they are.

Calculators are fine, necessary in some applications, and time savers, true. Students must be taught to use them.

But...I can do much of what they are entering into their calculators in my class in my head, much faster than it takes them to reach for the calculator and punch the buttons. If my batteries aren't working, if my calculator is broken, if I forgot it or lost it, or just don't happen to have it in the near vicinity, I can still figure things out. My students can't.

Mine is not a math class; any math we do is secondary, not instructional. In the current wave of "data" ruling all, though, my Language Arts and Social Studies classes deal with their own data.

A memorization of facts allows us to do more complex mental math without a calculator; I think that's important. Of course, learning those facts does not preclude algebra strands in younger students classrooms. I know, because I taught both.

When I taught younger students, I had 3rd graders who knew their facts, could do extended math problems in their heads, AND deal with simpler variables.

It doesn't have to be either/or. That's why I didn't join this particular topic when I first saw it; I can argue equally legitimately for both sides of the argument. I just know that each side of the argument, while having valid points, is incomplete.