Readers Join in Algebra Debate

The state board of education decreed Wednesday that every California eighth-grader will be tested in algebra -- ready or not. The policy is likely to take effect in three years. The issue has been a source of intense debate for months, and that impassioned discussion continued in comments on a Times article

Other readers wrote directly to Howard Blume, who wrote the article. Here is a sampling of these comments:

Until recently Richard Wagoner chaired the math department at San Pedro High. He was not pleased with the state board's action.

The Governor and the State Board must be called on this 8th grade algebra requirement: All of them MUST be required to take the same test they are asking for students. I think the results would be 
telling ... in a way they would rather not tell.

-- Richard Wagoner

Daniel Zogaib sees the state board's action as long overdue.

I can’t believe that they haven’t been doing this for decades now!  I am a now Chemical Engineer with a BSChE from Cal Poly, Pomona.  I had Elementary Algebra in the 7th grade at Suzanne Jr. High School in Walnut, CA back in 1974 or 75!  I even dropped out of high school in the 10th grade and still was able to go to MSAC Jr. College at the age of 21 take college courses that transferred to both the CSU or UC systems, and then transfer to Cal Poly to get my undergraduate degree!  I have no high school diploma nor do I have a GED, but I do have a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering.  What is up with our education system today? 

Along the same lines, I read an article not too long ago about how many of the students in this country do not have a clue as to what the Constitution, Preamble, and Declaration of Independence say.  When I was in the 8th grade, we had to memorize those documents for the mandatory Constitution Test at the end of the year.  I guess they decided to stop teaching that too!

-- Dan

But this teacher from a well-regarded school system (who requested anonymity), believes that short-sighted policymakers are drawing the wrong conclusions from the experience of students like Lucila, whose repeated failures in algebra were recounted in the Times article.

Dear Howard:  Someone needs to realize that there is a large percentage of our young population, like Lucila, who will never, ever, "get" Algebra.  The idiots behind "No Child Left Behind" and "Standards-based" education also just don't "get" it.  I have taught everything from history to English, journalism and, yes, even Algebra, at our "distinguished" high school and at our not-so-distinguished continuation high school, although it is getting better.  Both campuses are loaded with children like Lucila.  Kids like her sit in rooms doodling, texting each other, doing anything to avoid school work because they are bored.  What we need to do is teach these kids how to balance a check book, how credit really works (or doesn't work), the importance of saving money, the "rule of 72," healthy sexual practices and how to be a good parent.  Then we need to provide them opportunities in the arts, trades, mechanics, whatever really interests them and send them down that path ready to deal with the real world. It breaks my heart to think about the futures my "kids" are facing, even though I cleverly try to "sneak" all this stuff into my lesson plans.  Lucila has a "dream" and she should be allowed to pursue it without having to jump through that terrible "hoop." Enough of this. 

-- [Name Withheld]

This parent and school district is certain that the state officials don't know what they're doing:

Dear Mr. Blume,

I am writing to you from both the perspective of a life-long educator and a parent.  The new so-called Algebra Mandate is nothing more than an ill advised political ploy initiated by the uninformed. I have a living laboratory at home, as I have triplet teenage daughters. They all have the advantages of having a stable family, and what I would modestly say is a genetic pool of significant quality.  Yet, one of my three breezed through Algebra, one of them has gotten through with the assistance of a tutor, and one of them has barely scraped by, with every new concept positing itself as a new struggle to endure.  Add to this a wild inconsistency in the quality of instructors, and you can easily see why this mandate is not only bound to fail, but ill conceived from the start.

I can't wait for the Special Education lobby to get a hold of this one. 

Sincerely,

Bill

This teacher put the spotlight on the inferior quality of teaching and the alleged complicity of the Los Angeles Unified School District:

Hi Mr. Blume,

I want to compliment you on the highly accurate portrayal of the Algebra crisis in LAUSD. Lucila is a model story of students in LAUSD. Isn't it obvious that she had inferior teaching if after 4 years of Algebra and many Algebra interventions, she still hasn't passed the requirements for a California diploma?

I've taught in LAUSD secondary schools for 15 years.  I watch as students are enrolled in Algebra make-up courses and re-take classes  and they still don't pass the exams. I say, with great sincerity, that the problem is only partially with the students'  work habits.   

First, students must have qualified teachers -- they don't! Lucila  spoke of the subs she had -- these people teach Algebra and English every day in LAUSD, and then they teach the intervention courses at night, on Saturday, and during off track times. Second: LAUSD is such a hostile place to work that almost every new math teacher from UCLA, USC resigns within 24 months. It is a tragedy to see California's brightest new teachers leave the profession because they feel defeated by LAUSD. 

I don't have a mixed opinion on the algebra/math crisis.  LAUSD's inferior problem-solving skills force the students to fail and drop out.

Sincerely,
[Name withheld]

Here's part of another email from a parent and teacher that inspires little confidence in L.A. Unified or the prospects of the state's new policy.

I started teaching algebra in middle school in LAUSD 10 years ago.  My son was in 8th grade [at] Le Conte Middle School  in Hollywood and I was an elected parent representative.  When my son was having problems in math, i visited the classroom, and found a teacher from Russia teaching, speaking English with a sharp accent. I could not understand a word of what was being said, so i know why [my son] was failing, but could do nothing about it.  I talked with the principal, and she stated that was the best math teacher she could find. 

I tried to become part of the solution, and became a substitute.  Since I was an electrical engineer, I knew the math well.  I started at Olive Vista Middle School in Sylmar, and 10 years ago i became one of the first to teach algebra to 8th graders. That first year [there were] 5 open positions in math, so subs were called, and after 15 subs covering these 5 classes, I was the only one to last the year.

Problem is NO ONE really believes, including teachers not teaching math, that algebra is important (few principals have taught Algebra). In both middle and high school, math is hated by most teachers and students and parents. I try to maintain standards and fair grading, but the principals always warn: No more than 25% fail or you will be considered a bad teacher, and be given a bad Stull evaluation. So, social promotion it is.  A student earning 30% correct in one Geometry class gets a 'B', but in my class gets a "F", so I then become an unpopular teacher.  75% of my students failed Algebra, but were still passed on to Geometry. Naturally, I must go along and socially promote, lots of pressure on me to socially promote "because you do not want to cause the student to not graduate high school for a course that they will never use." 

...Also, elementary school teachers teach all subjects--multiple subject credential.  Few know algebra. They are setting the foundation for students to hate and struggle with math the rest of their life, just like their teacher did.  This is LAUSD.  LAUSD teacher development is also contributing to the problem, as well as math coaches, and clear lack of how algebra is used in careers. 

Remember, to study math is "GAY," especially in the schools with minorities, blacks and Hispanics, so no student really wants to tell anyone they know or like math. Even many parents say it is OK not to know math...This problem is throughout the United States...

-- William McMahon

This educator wanted to call attention to developmental issues that would hinder the ability of some 8th graders to master algebra.

Dear Mr. Blume:

After reading the above article, I was left wishing you would remind the readers of the following: According to respected child psychologists Kohlberg, Piaget and others, developmentally, on the average, a person's brain is not ready for critical thinking processes until AFTER the ages of 12-13, exactly when these intermediate/middle school students would be expected to PASS the algebra test.  This does not mean that we do not expose the student to critical thinking activities and work to better prepare them for algebra and other rigorous courses, but does provide one reason WHY many of the students who take the algebra course cannot pass the test.

Another reason WHY our students are not better prepared to take and pass algebra is the conflicts among the math experts themselves on the best way to teach math. I was fortunate to not only hear you speak at one of the GATE conferences, but also Rachel McAnallen who is a math consultant in Denver, Colorado.  She asserted that the reason our students are not prepared to take algebra in the 8th grade (or earlier) is because of the way we teach them in the earlier grades.  For example, Japanese students are taught from pre-school on to compute their numbers from the left to the right, which is the same way how algebra problems are expected to be solved.  In most U.S. math classes, our children are taught to add, subtract, etc. from the left to the right.  As I was listening to her speak on the various ways on how to better prepare our students to compete globally in math, I was struck by her common sense approach to teaching math to our own students. 

If we expect our students to be able to compete with those students from other countries who are excelling in math and science, we better use similar methods to teach our students. Otherwise, the arguments that our math experts, educators, politicians and parents currently fixate upon will continue and we will continue to hold our students accountable for on ability that  we have not adequately prepared them for and more and more of them will continue to be held back.

Thank you for your timely article.

-- Barbara Chavira
8th grade Language Arts/History/AVID teacher
AVID Coordinator
J. F. Macy Intermediate, Monterey Park, California

Here's part of what blogger and Westside parent David Coffin sent by email:

Maybe after they start testing them ALL, Sacramento will soon get the picture that not all students have the aptitude or the inclination to become proficient in Algebra. My feelings are that we'll see even greater dropout rates after 9th grade than we are seeing now once testing begins in middle schools. In some ways this stubbornness on the part of the state legislature and the education department reminds me of the Whole Language boondoggle that led to a decade's worth of illiteracy in California. Here we have them spending an inordinate amount of time, money, and resources to learn one particular subset of math and then denying students a diploma it they don't get it. In the late 80s and 90s we denied students literacy because of an ill-advised reading curriculum. Now we are denying students a diploma because of an ill-advised level of math threshold.

For more from Coffin go to: http://westchesterparents.org/

Comments

[Pat Garske]

I am looking for scientific research that either backs-up or discredits the State of California's move to force all 8th graders to pass an Algebra test. I know there is a lot of research on brain development and applications to education, but can anyone give me a specific, unbiased, scientific rational for this move?