Oct 4 Battleground Schools Reflection

I was surprised that the math curriculum went under many radical changes in the 20th century alone. The layout between the two (conservative vs. progressive) approaches to view/teach math['s various areas of interests] is also enlightening as I am able to better understand them. The move from methods to deduce algorithms to a more non-standard problem solving/inquiry where students invent their own methods to solutions opens up more pathways to accessibility and reaching goals. It was unfortunate to know that many teachers who teach math (because they were assigned to teach it) are not comfortable with the topic themselves. The article mentions that they will use their own methods to avoid going too deep and maneuvering around hard lessons due to the troubles they once had. Resorting to memorization is a common practice for those who just want to get things over with, and the real crux/meat of the matter of asking “why” is ignored. Math stereotypes arise to math phobia where only a selected elite group is capable of navigating through these hard waters. For me, I want to break that belief because I wasn't a strong math student growing up. It was one of my better subjects but I had troubles with understanding at times too. Eddie Woo, who was last place in math when he was a student, is now a mathtuber and teacher. His Ted Talk video on "Mathematics is the sense you never knew you had" opens up more room for the general population to be fluent/literate in math. This demonstrates that a student probably hasn't encountered an idea/situation/scenario that kindled some sort of interest that made them see why what they’re learning works/makes sense/is useful/is valuable. It never occurred to me that the high levels of competition in the American education system was probably due to global tensions during escalating times (such as the Cold War). The anxieties of a lack of talented intellectuals forced school systems to get more involved in K-12 students learning. I think this quickly filtered out the strong and the weak students at the time since the focus was more on flushing information down student’s heads rather than aiding/nurturing students. This again created a barrier for students who needed more time with understanding math from fully enjoying the richness it may provide. So timing is what I should work on as well, allowing each student the time to see where they may have troubles and go through fuzzy concepts. Creating an environment that isn’t so competitive will also be helpful, as students are able to focus on helping each other rather than competing against each other.