The Battle of Mathematics Education in America (Summary and Reflection of Susan's Battleground Schools: Mathematics Education)

The battle of Mathematics education in North America has been mainly a battle between progressive and conservative approaches. The critique of math curriculum dated back in the late 19^th century, when mathematics learning was traditionally equivalent to raw memorization without understanding of how and why the procedures worked. Therefore, scholars such as Dewey advocated progressive math learning, which treated students as active learning agencies and considers math learning part of a reflective inquiry to develop scientific and democratic thinkers rather than obedient rule-followers.

The scientific and technological competition during the Cold War generated the anxieties about the lack of scientists in the US. Therefore, there was a public outcry for better preparation of American children for the future, resulting the movement known as “the New Math” in the 1960’s, which aimed at reforming math curriculum in public schools. Thus, several new concepts, such as abstract algebra, linear algebra, and calculus etc. were added in school math programs. However, this change created big problems since neither the teachers nor the parents were prepared for the new curriculum. Consequently, “the New Math” was regarded as a misguided experiment and soon discarded.

Since late 1970’s, the math teaching moved towards a ‘back to basics’ curriculum. The National Council of Teacher of Mathematics (NCTM) developed its own Standards program in the mid-1980’s. The NCTM Principles and Standards were well received by both government and teachers because of its balanced progressive approach which emphasized the development of flexible problem-solving skills, the ability of represent math in multiple forms, the use of technologies and the ability to communicate mathematically. At the same time, California state legislators also developed a new school mathematics curriculum in the similar approach.

In the mid1990’s, voice of criticizing standards-based curriculums emerged. Especially in 1996 when the Third International Mathematics and Science Study shows that American eighth-grade students ranked 28^th in the world in mathematics, anxieties roused and sparked calls for a more rigorous and traditional standards for school mathematics, although video analysis of school classes supported the NCTM and California state standards. Until now, mathematics education itself is still at the center of this prolonged ongoing battle.

This article is very informative and interesting to read. Even though it is mainly about the historical “battle” in the US, I can easily relate it to my learning experience. For example, the ideology of math education in my childhood was largely based on the conservative approach which believes that high-level abstract ability can be trained through excessive drilling. However, I feel fortunate that I had one teacher who taught math in a more progressive way. And his classes have become the most interesting and precious math moments in my memory. I have to remember that as an educator, it is my duty to give my students these memorable moments.