Why Do Americans Stink at Math?

[Igel]

2. They do and they don't.

I've found that relating things to pizza and money works wonders.

"Would you rather have a pizza split up 4 ways or split up 3 ways, if you're hungry?"

The kid who blithely writes 1/2 as 2 immediately spots the problem. There's no way dividing a pizza two ways gets you 2 pizzas. And I teach juniors. Science, not math.

And yet as soon as it's related to something else, they're suddenly math stupid. They can't generalize. They don't even remember their math facts: Education is for the purpose of passing a test and getting a low-ranked letter on your report card. Everything else the Internet or a calculator can tell you.