infobong.com

A post at Political Animal quotes my former boss Frank Wang. OK, he was the CEO of Saxon Publishers while I was a lowly part-time proofreader. Although the greatest responsibility I had was writing the answers in the back of the Algebra II textbook, I did come into contact with him from time to time.

Drum cites Mr. Wang to describe "the Math Wars," or a battle between educators who advocate a more heuristic approach to teaching math and conservative groups led by parents who advocate a "back-to-basics" approach that emphasizes drilling and rote memorization. (I've already blogged about Saxon here.) Philosophically, I tend to agree with the new math folks - I mean, how are kids ever going to understand Derrida if they don't learn set theory in grade school? - but my major objection to back-to-basics math education is more pragmatic. The Saxon method is boring, and more apt to turn students off to math than to give them mathematical competence.