“Old and Proven” Beats
“New and Improved”
By Sylvia Robinson, PhD, K-8 Principal
Modern education trends are just that, trends.
They continue to shift and change and contend that new is always improved.
As a classical educator, I know that this is not always true. For example,
the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) recently released
a report on Curriculum Focal Points which surprisingly set out standards
for students such as memorizing facts and learning standard step-by-step
procedures for problem solving. These methods, of course, are not new.
However, NCTM has been promoting “reform math”
since 1989, which has heavily influenced math curricula and state standards
across the country. Nicknamed “fuzzy math” by frustrated
parents, NCTM’s methods deemphasized the finding of one correct
answer and emphasized the use of technology (i.e. using calculators
over paper and pencil methods), just to name a few. This “new
versus traditional” approach to math instruction precipitated
what has been coined the “Math Wars.”
To be fair, NCTM claims that they never intended students
not to learn math facts and step-by-step problem solving, but that these
skills were overlooked by many states and districts in the development
of their own standards. Their new report, according to NCTM, “is
in no way a retreat” [from the old standards, but simply] “the
next step in implementation.”
One of the things I love about classical education is that it doesn’t
have to rely on the publication of new standards every ten years or
so to know how best to teach math, or anything else for that matter.
While we do realize the importance of staying current on educational
research, it is comforting to know that we, at RMCA, will not be forced
to drift with every educational trend. RMCA has held steadily and purposefully
to our traditional approach to math instruction.
Our students’ math scores continue to shine above
both national and ACSI schools, overall ranking in the upper 20% of
students last year in both math procedures and math problem solving.
The graphs below illustrate our students’ math performance. We
are proud of our students for their math achievement. I fully expect
the “Math Wars” to continue indefinitely. But at RMCA, we
are at peace in knowing that classical education is not afraid to seek
answers from the past to prepare for the future.
