kitchen table math, the sequel: waging the war against mathiness

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

waging the war against mathiness

Hey!

What happened to scholastic enstupidation!?

Though I must say..."waging the war against mathiness" works for me!

umm...

What is mathiness?

If I may ask.
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17 comments:

TurbineGuy said...

Math-iness is the appearance of mathematics without the substance of mathematics.

For example: Teaching kids how to perform calculations on a calculator without knowing how to solve actual problems is "math-iness"

February 21, 2007 at 8:09 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

ah-hah!

February 21, 2007 at 8:28 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

Of course, around here we barely even have mathiness, let alone math.

February 21, 2007 at 8:29 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

I'm sorry I said that.

I take it back.

February 21, 2007 at 8:29 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

Actually.....this makes me realize that our household may be inventing a brand-new form of math neurosis.

I've been reading THE MATH PLAGUE (fantastic book - Smartest Tractor pick), so I've been thinking more about "math anxiety."

Our afterschooling efforts have managed to ward off a roaring case of math anxiety in our child.

We have something more like....math disgust.

Christopher has some confidence he can learn & do math if he works hard enough.

But he's sick and tired of the whole grind.

February 21, 2007 at 8:31 AM
Anonymous said...

I have suspected as much, Parentalcation, although due to my indisputable lack of mathiness I've never wanted to make that assertion.

Here is a quote from a message board I frequent that bothered me. This a hill I didn't want to die on so I didn't say anything in response to it but it made me wonder a lot.


"For me, a mathy person with a mathy husband and mathy children, the extra effort is worth it at this stage. I suspect, though, that will not always be the case. I don't, for instance, think I'll attempt to teach Gelfand's Algebra by myself or to the exclusion of other texts, because at that level I don't feel that I'll be able to cobble together a method of instruction that will serve my math/science-inclined children well. "

But working through the problems in the book IS the method of instruction. In other words, she's "mathy" but she can't teach how to prove theorems. The "mathy" folks in Russian used this book successfully with tens of thousands of students and in many cases because it is part of a correspondence course there IS no teacher present prompting every move. And the level is not a terribly high one. We're not talking about a graduate level course. It's for 14 yo. So in effect, here is someone saying that they are "mathy" but they can't teach a text written for freshmen and blame it on the pedagogy. And yet the graduate students and mathematicians teaching out of that book (through the mail nonetheless) some how knew the right "method" for teaching this book. Here's the method: YOU WORK THE PROBLEMS. There's no magic instructional "method" here. Just hard work. Geez, unlike American textbooks you might have to think more than 5 seconds to come up with an answer. That must mean that there is something wrong with the "method of instruction."


I do say things like "the mathy people around me." That would consist of one PhD mathematician, another with MS in math, another with BS in math. I can't say that they are mathematicians because they are employed in other fields, and one now retired.

And while we're on the subject, there is one thing related to the "mathy" topic that chaps my hide. It's this,

"If your child is "mathy" use XYZ curriculum, otherwise you QRZ curriculum"

Well how exactly does one produce a "mathy" kid from using a weak and watered down curriculum???? How do they think that the mathy kids got mathy to being with?

I guess it's just genetic...can't possibly be about hard work. Math degrees are just handed out to smart people, you didn't WORK for that math degree, it all came naturally to you. It's all about learning-styles or right braininess or multiple intellgences or something else, not about training, motivation, persistence, and hard work. Can't possibly be. No way.

February 21, 2007 at 9:33 AM
Anonymous said...

cf "truthiness", which *almost*
came up back on the old wiki.
search on "wikiality" in the
helicopter parents on wikipedia
discussion & follow up a few links.

February 21, 2007 at 9:46 AM
TurbineGuy said...

yes... math-iness is a blatant rip off of truth-iness.

I am looking for some good examples of math-iness... I might try and do semi-regular posts on examples of math-iness.

February 21, 2007 at 10:00 AM
Anonymous said...

"Math-iness is the appearance of mathematics without the substance of mathematics."

Like truthiness! Excellent!

February 21, 2007 at 12:26 PM
Instructivist said...

"What happened to scholastic enstupidation!?"

I am not happy at all with this new slogan. Partly because I dislike cutesy neologisms and partly because I dislike the smarmy comedian (Stewart something) who I believe coined the prototype.

The original (zero tolerance...) was very clever. I want it back. Perhaps stultification would fit.

February 21, 2007 at 6:39 PM
TurbineGuy said...

I am a firm believe in rotating slogans... its allows us to use our creativity (you know... like teachers).

btw... stultification is a frickin awesome word.

February 21, 2007 at 6:48 PM
KDeRosa said...

I believe that Colbert coined the word.

And even a neologism is better than a nonce.

February 22, 2007 at 7:21 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

I do say things like "the mathy people around me." That would consist of one PhD mathematician, another with MS in math, another with BS in math

good grief

definitely mathy

February 22, 2007 at 5:45 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

i'm a math camp follower

February 22, 2007 at 5:45 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

K-12 math camp follower

February 22, 2007 at 5:45 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

though I aspire to higher things

February 22, 2007 at 5:46 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

I vote for rotating slogans!

February 22, 2007 at 5:46 PM

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