The "sorting" function of education and classes of wealth and privilege

[lostnfound]

What is a "premium" package? On cable TV, it means the guys who pay the most get the extra movie channels. In the world of schooling, I suspect it is a method to eek extra money out of privileged schools while others get short shrift, and thereby differentiate not only the consumer product (educational materials) but the "human product" (students).

My son is in a new type of math curriculum this year, and even though he was learning multiple digit multiplication at home last year (like 4568 x 392) I am surprised to see that the 3d grade math book contains none of that. THe biggest numbers to be multiplied are 27 x 8, for example. I am pretty sure that back when I was in 3d grade we were learning to multiply multiple digits. So I am looking through his math book last night, and discover that it is a scattered jumble of concepts but essentially no skills development.

Reading an online bulletin board for this math program, I find that teacher after teacher was complaining that they couldn't get through the curriculum with their kids, that they were passing on students who didn't have the foundation they needed, and were just struggling to get through the many lessons in the text and through difficult materials. The text itself is said to be full of errors. But the teachers who were more satisfied with the program were the ones whose schools purchased the 'premium package' PLUS a lot of extras that presented animated explanations on smartboards, etc. etc. The talk among the teachers went like this: "did your school purchase the (blank-blank) package? My kids weren't getting it until I was able to start using that.." "We have smartboards but no animation package which is too bad because the animations looked great.." "I've heard the investigations package is great but our school didn't buy it..." "Kids this age need the concrete, so without the (blank-blank) package the abstractions don't mean anything.."

And I am thinking, did my son's school buy the premium package with ALL the extras?

And then I am thinking, why would ANY school be expected to teach with only PART of the materials available, while others have all the extras like manipulatives and animated programs on the smartboard.. And why does teaching math have to be so expensive? Would the schools getting PART of the expensive materials be better off teaching out of a circa 1880 math book, with emphasis on operations, fractions, decimals, and the like, for the primary grades?

Is this curriculum intentionally confusing?

Skills give self-reliance and confidence. Being able to sit down with a sheet of ordinary math problems and calculate the answers is empowering to a kid. I get the sense that this type of program is, like all else in our society, about CONSUMPTION of OTHER people's products -- of corporate products, in fact. And it seems pretty disempowering to think that he can only learn his 3d grade math if he has fancy computer equipment and fancy packaged products in addition to an error-prone and weighty textbook full of glossy pictures. Isn't all this designed to obfuscate math? Do kids really get the abstract stuff any quicker by being exposed to it at an early age, at the expense of less skills development?

I believe what I am witnessing may well be an intentional means of segregating or differentiating the masses into the eventual roles in society. Lest you think I am paranoid about that, read John Taylor Gatto "The Underground History of American Education", which has quotes from a Harvard chair saying that the function of education includes sorting kids into their assigned classes (and races, by the way), or quotes from founders of the Education Trust basically saying that if you overeducate the common laborer they will only become more dissatisfied with their lives.

And don't even get me started on the creeping influence of CONSERVATIVES on the education system. It's not just evolution-vs-creationism or abstinence-vs-biology arguments. It's essay questions about the benefits of capitalism on the GRE test. It's the bubble carefully stitched around the kids to prevent their exposure to critical thinking or to inconvenient historical facts, while filling them up with consumer values. It's the streaming of some kids into laptop-carrying, powerpoint-capable 12 year olds and others into convenient recruits for the US military.

The teachers on this board moved me to tears. They so obviously care about the kids, and you could hear a kind of love coming through in their concern over what the kids are learning. But if you don't think that education in the US is centrally planned and facilitating class sorting and quite possibly even the intentional handicapping of students, open your eyes to the textbook industry (see recent DU thread on Feynmann's experience on a textbook committee) and NCLB and the real challenges of the people in the classroom who know that the kids aren't getting what they need but whose hands are tied to doing things a certain, pre-planned way. Better yet, if you are one of DU's many smart explorers of class history or class stratification or corporate ownership of our culture, take the time to read "The Underground History of Education" to catch a different angle and an important perspective. It is 12 years of virtually every American's life, and it has a tremendous impact on the way we function as a society and as individuals.

[seabeyond]

1. so many variables. yes the teaching is so much different than today

when my youngest was in that grade learning the simplest things they were having them do all this side work, different ways of doing problems. told him forget it. old fashion way works for him. the oldest son on the other hand has a fuzzy brain and he has to see a math problem three, four, five different ways before one hits him and he can understand.

i am not seeing kids doing less than we did. i am seeing them do more. having a 6th and 9th graders, ... they have always been ahead of what we did. my youngest, granted in pre ap classes, 6th grade is doing algebra that we did freshman year.

and as far as the conservative movement in teaching.... liviing in panhandle of texas, way more conservative than your area and i am not seeing the kids taught creationism or abstinence at ALL or any other rw only conditioning. i am seeing a school that is academically oriented adn work hard towards that goal regardless of the parental outrage.

much of what i have found though, the parent that is involved in the education is the one whose child gets the most out of it. and the parent that allows school to be the "be all, end all" of education is the child that isnt up to par.

[tinkerbell41]

2. I agree.

I moved back to the neighborhood I grew up in. Not by choice. A nice enough place. But it is an extremely blue collar, changing demographic, neighborhood. The school became heavily populated by people who's first language is not english. My kid benefited greatly from that fact. She is smart, but if I had lived in a wealthier area I know she wouldn't have been in AP classes(too much competition) and she wouldn't have a higher grade average, which led to College academic scholarships. I didn't realize it til Junior year. It is sad, what is happening but I fear it has gone on for far longer. The High School specialized in alot of vocational classes, Car shop, construction,etc.. So you are just kept in your place, never a chance to break out of where you were born.

[Fridays Child]

3. "Them what has gets." It starts early.

Do you have a link to the Feynmann thread?

[lostnfound]

10. Here's a link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=228&topic_id=55859&mesg_id=55859

[flygal]

4. I remember learning my multiplication chart in 3rd grade

very vividly. I'm talking single digits. My daughter is in the 3rd class in Bavaria Germany - the toughest district in the country, and they are not doing high multiples like you showed. My daughter got an A in math and loves the subject but is not that advanced. I wouldn't be concerned about the math at this point, but if he is advanced keep encouraging him at home.

I do love the Euro education in the ground schools - they start later with reading, in pre-school there are more themes and the kids are encouraged to learn through doing projects - not tests. My daughter had her first real test in 2nd grade - and they don't count that much. It's more about homework. The one thing I don't like is the kids are seperated at 5th grade into three different schools and it's kind of rough when they are sent to the bottom school. But, at least they are in an enviroment they can succeed in and get vocational training. The smart kids sent to the top school are worked really hard so they will def. make it through college. I would not have been one of those kids but I still finished college. I'm thankful for that.

[IdaBriggs]

5. You made a very interesting post.

I have searched for the Feynmann thread you referenced, and can't find it. I would love to see a link.

My two year old twins are currently in a Montessori toddler program. I love it. The teachers are incredible, and they are willing to work with the fact my twins are "advanced" which translates to "they will keep pulling them ahead, while the rest of the class learns at their own level." We will have to stay in Montessori or go to a gifted school, but I have accepted it. I see no reason to hold my kids back while everyone else "catches up." (One of my worst nightmares involves having my kids "reading" in kindergarten, while everyone else is learning the alphabet. The teacher in a non-Montessori setting would obviously spend more time with the less advanced kids, making the year nearly a waste for mine. Shudder!)

[seabeyond]

6. lower ages, in the public schools they have tiers... the kids are grouped per their reading

skills and comprehension. both children were way advanced in reading comprehension. they are tested at the beginning at the school year. kids are placed in groups of their reading skills. my kids were always in the highest level of reading with a couple other kids, allowed to get their skilled reading material. i loved the reading set up in public school. was outstanding and excellent to meet my kids love for reading.

since babies, we had book time every night and as they started school and reading on their own i continued, half hour, right before bed every night. to this day, freshman in highschool and 6th grader, they have half hour book time before lights out.

car is full of books, that they grab and read

and can often find them sittin somewhere in house reading.

[IdaBriggs]

12. That is good to know! As I said, I've been having nightmares....

I don't want them "bored" and turned off in school, but at the same time, I don't want them so overloaded that they lose a love of learning. Right now they love to "read" -- they sit, play, recite the books (!) and seem to have an appreciation of reading. My husband and I are both "readers" so it is very important to us.

We also do (and have been doing) the "read every day" thing. It came as a shock when they started reciting the stories back to us! LOL! "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" is one of our favorites, altho "Inside Outside Upside Down!" is also great.

I hope we are able to keep it up! Its awesome that you were able to! :)

[lostnfound]

9. Thank you. Here's a link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=228&topic_id=55859&mesg_id=55859

[SoCalDem]

11. OMG.. those babies are TWO?? I remember when they were born

doesn't seem like 2 years ago:) :hi:

I was a "lazy-Mom"..never sent mine to pre-school:), but I guess most parents do these days.. Just getting the 3 of them "ready" to go anywhere was an all-day affair at our house:rofl:

[JackintheGreen]

7. My daughter has been educated in India and the US

(she's white) and one of the most obvious things I noticed is that the math curriculum there is in many more advanced than it is in her very good district here in PA. By age 11 she was covering base 2,5,6, and 8, simple algebra, finding cube roots by hand and lots of geometry and trig, much of which I didn't get until high school (if at all...hello base anything). But it was all taught by methods considered outdated back in the states: mostly rote with the focus on getting the answer and not understanding the method. Comparing the two always reminds me of the Tom Lehrer song "New Math," which makes the same point.

I learned via the new math in the 70s, and I can't make heads or tails of mathematics the way my father learned it. At the same time, my 3rd grade teacher made sure to challenge a friend and I with difficult math problems, usually what she called "lollipops," which were multiple digit multiplication or division, eg: 46378926 x 746389.

The other thing I noticed was how "whites" or "westerners" or "Europeans" were always held up to the Indian students as examples of laziness, sloth, and stupidity, even thought my daughter constantly scored near the top of her class.

But curriculum in India *is* centrally planned. At least in the south and at the State level. Every child in Tamil Nadu, for example, is supposed to have the same textbook, regardless of the wealth of the school. But of course there are always exceptions. I can't say that the centralization of curriculum is good, but at least all children are taught towards exactly the same level statewide. But there is little or no leeway given for learning styles or abilities.

(I should also point out that this is a place that taught an Atlantis-style "lost continent" theory as historic fact until the 1950s, so...)

[Romulox]

8. I always LOL at "discrimination" experts--discrimination based on CLASS is usually invisible

to such "experts". It's as natural as an evening's rain that poor people are denied basic education, for example, but a rich woman being denied even one of the accoutrements of wealth is a natural tragedy!

[Trillo]

13. "circa 1880 math book"?

How about an early 1900s physics book?
http://books.google.com/books?id=5KkLAAAAYAAJ&dq=Physics+of+the+household&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=4DwxyGIVRO#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Full text is online and downloadable, I guess it's out of copyright.

It's so much better than a college level physics book I had for a 101 class sometime back in the 80s, one really does have to wonder what the heck happened in education and educational publishing. Perhaps the reason I like Physics of the Household is that hasn't been abstracted to a ridiculous point of practical irrelevance. Undoubtedly, there are some things in it that are out of date, such as descriptions of how a refrigerator works.