sad state of affairs wrote:
Anyone who has kids in public school knows that teachers do not employ active teaching methods in the classroom. Therefore, my prediction is that kids today will learn math as well as they ever have in the past (i.e., not well). School-aged children in the United States have very poor numerical literacy skills relative to the rest of the developed world. It really is mind boggling considering the amount of federal/state money that is poured into our schools. This statistic probably speaks more to issues inherent with teacher tenure – why bother yourself with engaging children in active learning projects when you can float by and dispense information in a passive manner? In most affluent communities, parents will compensate for the teacher's inadequate methods and schools know it.
So you place blame on public school teachers who have tenure as the reason for poor numerical literacy skills for the US relative to the rest of the developed world? I think that bad teachers may be a small part of the problem, but the biggest issue is the break down of the family.
No matter what teaching instruction a child receives, if his or her family life at home is messed up, then the child will not be as successful with academics most of the time. In most affluent communities, the family life at home is much better and therefore the kids can actually learn instead of just trying to survive.