by Betty Tsang

 When my child entered first grade, she did stick math. She told me proudly that red+blue=yellow. The school was so concerned about the trauma my child might experience with numbers that a “nonsense” wordy sentence was preferred over a simple mathematical expression such as 3+2=5.

 In third grade, I was told that my child was doing poorly in math because she refused to explain why 3+8=11 in five different ways.
 
 I used to think that schools would outgrow such gimmicks and children would learn “real” math in higher grades. Wrong!

 To go with the trend, the Okemos School District is expanding its math reform programs. The high school has adopted Core Plus -- an integrated math approach also used in Bloomfield Hills. In Kinawa Middle School, the new math program is called the Connected Mathematics Project (CMP). Traditional textbooks have given way to little booklets with names like “Bits and Pieces” and “Frogs, Fleas and Painted Cubes”. In the elementary schools, students no longer have mathematics textbooks.

 Groups of students work together to “discover” math. Students are required to write long math journals. They also do research papers on “the history of fractions” for enrichment. Sometimes, parents cannot distinguish math homework from arts and crafts projects. While the wordy problems in CMP textbooks could be credited in prompting students to read, most parents cannot understand from the textbooks how to help their children with their homework without the teachers’ guides.

 Fifth graders do not know how to calculate the area of a triangle nor how to measure angles with protractors even after six weeks of geometry lessons. Sixth graders cannot add fractions but they are not afraid to tell you that 1/3+1/4=2/7 because it feels right. Instead of stick math, seventh graders progress to do “chip” math: minus 2 red chips=2 black chips -- get it? Eighth graders cannot do simple fraction division without calculators. The list goes on and on. Worrying about their children’s math education, a lot of parents either pay for outside tutoring programs or home school their children in math.

 Okemos is a few years late in adopting this newest mathematics teaching philosophy. Five years after adopting experimental math programs like CMP and Core Plus, California is on its way back to “traditional” math. After parents found out that Core Plus graduates take remedial math classes at MSU, students in Bloomfield Hills are now given the option to go “traditional”.

 Unfortunately, the Okemos middle school administration is adamant in insisting on “NO CHOICE”. To Band-Aid some of the weaknesses in CMP, another textbook will be added next year.  The new program is touted as “being the best of both worlds”. Unless the school board authorizes the schools to give parents choice in math, another experiment is beginning. Our children will be the reluctant guinea pigs!

Betty Tsang is the mother of a fifth grader and an eighth grader.