Watered-down math gets a failing grade
                                                    by Betty Tsang

     When my child was in kindergarten, she had food math. I was thrilled that she was learning fractions by cutting, sharing and eating a pie.

     Unfortunately, food math ((becomes a staple in elementary schools and)) rarely teaches children beyond simple fractions. In fourth grade, I suggested my child to take a pomegranate to the food party. The offer was rejected because “it can not be divided into slices”.

     Then, in fifth grade, there was no food party. ((I was worried. Maybe my child was traumatized by my last suggestion to take a pomegranate. “No”, she told me. Instead of food,)) she was learning fractions by folding strips of paper. “It is hard to fold one-fifth, though”, she confided.

     To challenge her problem solving skill, I asked, “What about one-seventh?”

     “Oh, that’s easy. You just punch a button on the calculator”, she assured me.

     While my child is busily munching “easily divisible” food, my friends’ children in Hong Kong and Singapore graduated from food math in kindergarten. By fifth grade, they have mastered addition, subtraction, multiplication and even division of fractions.

     My hope to have my child’s math standards raised in middle schoool was dashed when I examined the experimental math programs called the “Connected Mathematics Project” (CMP) adopted by middle schools across Michigan, including those in Okemos, Waverly and Portland. Instead of regular math textbooks with logically laid-out contents, instructions, examples, and homework exercises, students learn from booklets which live up to their names -- such as “Bits and Pieces”. ((Students are encouraged to re-discover fractions using paper strips (remember those in fifth grade). Pizza math follows. If our children do not learn math, they should at least enjoy the food! ))

     Such programs do not emphasize correct answers. They encourage children to find the most comfortable way to solve math problems. Thus, at the end of the fraction unit, a sixth grade child is not afraid to tell you that 1/2+1/3 is 2/5 -- because it feels right.

     In a recent review of 11 seventh grade textbooks by Mathematically Correct based in California, CMP received an F grade -- far below any other textbooks. The reviewers wrote, “It is impossible to recommend a book with as little content as this. “

     Algebra is noticeably absent despite the fact that the US Department of Education recommends that all eighth-graders should take Algebra I or an equivalent course. Graduates of this program are usually channeled into another “Algebra-light” high school math program called “Core Plus”.

     School administrators tell us that CMP will teach students to better answer questions like those in the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP). A MEAP fourth grade math question asks “Aaron bought a pen for 22 cents and a pencil for 11 cents, About how much did he spend altogether?” (The answer is 30 cents--huh?).

     Our math curriculum is “watered down” to provide remedial math to the students who may fail MEAP!

     Unfortunately, parents cannot hold schools accountable for dumbing down the curriculum because the math standards published by the Michigan Department of Education is very vague. It received a “F” in clarity and content from the Fordham Foundation, which rated the math standards in 46 states and Japan. Unlike Michigan, Texas specifies what is demanded for each grade. Recently, the Texas Education Agency ruled that the CMP fails short in meeting the curriculum standards in Texas. ((Parents in Plano, Texas where CMP is being piloted, filed a grievance against the school district demanding the program be dropped.))

     Why are our children learning math from a substandard program? Who is responsible for dumbing down our children’s math education?

Dr. Betty Tsang lives in Okemos where CMP is taught. She is the mother of a sixth and a ninth grader.