Battleground Schools

 The first thing that this reading had me pause on was the cultural assumptions of what someone who likes math may be like- although I agree that what was written is accurate, I think that there is also another dimension to it.  For me, the first thing that leapt to mind was that Asian kids are often expected to like and be good at math.  I definitely also saw the stereotypes of nerd and such playing out in my schooling, but there was also a certain profiling where for many people not being good at math was accepted, but the Asian kids in particular were questioned if they struggled.

Another part that struck me was the mention that they wanted to ban diagrams and geometry from being taught.  I'm a very analytical person where algebra is my forte over geometry, but even I can admit that having a diagram or some sort of picture is one of the most helpful things to think through something and see it in a different way.  I honestly had to stop for a second and try to process learning math without geometry.

The last thing that I'm left wondering about is the state of things today.  Of course, having been in high school just a few years ago, I've perceived that there is still an awful lot of direct lecturing and testing about what you can do and not for understanding.  However, I also went on a school observation in the spring where I briefly talked to a new math teacher who ran his classroom in a way where students didn't take notes and there was almost no lecturing.  Instead he had them working on whiteboards every class to put together patterns themselves before he consolidated their knowledge at the end of class with the more mathematical terms.  I also have watched a few other teachers who occasionally did work on whiteboards, but nothing to the extent that that one teacher did.  It was very interesting to watch.