Draft of Project 1

The Math Wars - Half a century old and still no end in sight

by: Jackson Starmer

The concept of the Math Wars has, diligently, stayed under the radar of public eyes for decades upon decades. A large majority of the public still remains unaware of a multi-generation controversy that has the entirety of education in the United States at an unending stale mate.

What are the Math Wars?

The root of the Math Wars began in the 1960s, during the height of the Cold War. In the background of nuclear arms races and engineering phenomenons, the US government adopted a small, but interesting policy that changed the common core curriculum for mathematics across the nation. This new policy is known as "New Math".

New Math has entered the English dictionary as the following definition because its roots as a 1960s ideal

New Math, by definition, was a new system that, as stated above, focuses on "investigation and discovery". In normal human terms, new math focuses on the processes on how to solve a problem a certain way instead of learning the concepts behind a problem. This system has been implemented in public school ever since the 60s. The term "new math" has since expired, but the basic concept remains the same; students are not learning the reasons and concepts that make up math. At first, there was a great improvement in math comprehension when New Math was first implemented, but as time has passed these numbers have dropped. Recent studies have shown a noticeable decrease in math comprehension at all grade levels from K-12 such as this one or this one. 2015 in particular has shown a significant drop in test scores. The Math Wars are the debate over whether or not this way of teaching should be updated/changed.

When did this all start?

The drop in test scores occurred somewhere in the 1980s. Here's the thing though; most people, even organizations directly responsible for recording these statistics didn't even respond to the drop until 1989. This year kicked off the beginning of a two-sided war, with the publication of Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics, a book published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). The book recites the dropping test scores, no holds barred. Needless to say, the public was slightly outraged by the whole nationwide dropping test scores issue.

Vargazs, Magyar, Folder Book Books Bookmark Office 11/13/2015 via Pixabay Public Domain Distribution License

The book itself described six principles that should be followed in regards to math education: 

• Equity
• Curriculum
• Teaching
• Learning
• Assessment
• Technology. 

As cheesy as these principles sound, the book states that if these six principles were not followed and balanced properly, then a good mathematical education couldn't be achieved. Furthermore, there were five process standards that should also be put into consideration.

• Problem Solving; to challenge the extent of which a student's knowledge reaches
• Reasoning & Proof; to have the student understand the concepts that make up math
• Communication; to make the student have the ability to know the material well enough to vaguely teach others the same basic idea
• Connections; to have the student make connections from one concept to the other
• Representation; to make sure the student can switch between the abstract and the material

These principles and standards sparked a small nationwide call for an educational revolution and divided the field of mathematical education into two halves: aadvocates and critics.

Why such a fuss over such a small matter?

Considering that math is only one subject in public school, why was it getting so much attention in the late 80s and 90s? The most probable answer is that there was NO answer. Government officials, university professors, teacher unions, and organizations scrambled to find a way to either reform the entirety of New Math or update it, but for years no one came up with a solid solution. The NCTM was a special case; this organization never really searched for a solution they caused. Instead the NCTM provided information in the form of journals that could possibly help other organizations and schools create a viable solution. These journals are still published today, but don't necessarily just inform people about the Math Wars.

Furthermore, the NCTM's book was published right after the Tiananmen Square riots, so the overall image of a nationwide public revolt was slightly concerning to say the least. Much like recent phenomenon fads such as The Harlem Shake and Gangnam Style, the public hype surrounding the Math Wars died out after a year or so. The issue as a whole still remained present though, and certain interested group still worked for a potential answer.

What were some of the answers that people came up with?

To be completely honest, there weren't a lot of groups that were successful in producing a new curriculum that could help replace or update New Math. It wasn't until around 1997 when Creative Publications, a book publisher out of all things, created an online resource called MathLand. MathLand was a step in the right direction; it was an extra-curricular online program designed to help students, mostly at the K-3 level, understand the conceptual basics of math better.

Clark, Gary MathLand Levels 2-3, 3/20/2000 via flickr Public Domain Distribution License

Critics of MathLand emerged from the shadows and pounded it for its lack of serious application and its weakness of being extra-curricular. If a replacement for the holes of New Math were to be found, they shouldn't be extra-curricular like MathLand was. MathLand was eventually shut down in 2007.

There were other aspiring programs that rose to the challenge however:

• TERC's Investigation Program
• Western Michigan University's Core-Plus Mathematics Program
• Michigan State University's Connected Math Program
• University of Chicago's Everyday Math Program

Furthermore, the government was frantically testing and searching for answers to this growing drop in mathematical prowess that entwined the nation. The American Mathematics Society wrote a 1997 report about California's struggles to find a solution to New Math. Certain tests, such as the Interactive Math Program (IMP), were used to compare the competency of 4th graders between 1995 and 1997. The results showed, as expected of the trends of New Math, a negative trend between math comprehension and time.

What about today?

The Math Wars today have calmed down slightly, but still pose a reasonable threat to the mathematical community as a whole. A certain recent study done by NAEP shows another decrease in math comprehension in both 8th graders and 4th graders. Not only this, but the emergence of third-party technological resources have created a threat to the actual need of a revamped common-core curriculum. Websites like KhanAcademy and WolframAlpha have basically eliminated the need of common core curriculum since both conceptual data and specific calculations are available to ANYONE FOR FREE. 

The United States Department of Education is in hot water from this issue  as well. Throughout the lifespan of New Math, the department hasn't touched the issue, instead putting the responsibility of common core curriculum to other programs: 

"To date, 45 states and the District of Columbia voluntarily have opted to participate in the Common Core State Standards Initiative. The federal government has not been involved in the design of these standards, which were developed in a partnership between the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association."

Furthermore, there has still yet to be any closure on the Math Wars in general. Despite other programs created by organizations (listed above), the United States Department of Education has still yet to come up or implement any sort of reform or update in regards to math common core curriculum. Notable math scholar Bill Quirk touches on why this is the case. There are just too many more important factors to deal within the field of American education than that of the Math Wars. The shrinking supply of teachers, the shrinking supply of educational funds (again, Department of Education needs more funding), and the shrinking tradition on knowledge all have limited the possible educational maximums that can come from the united States' current situation. This, however, is just a limiting factor; Quirk still believes in form. In fact, Quirk describes people that believe in keeping New Math this context:

"Although the anti-content philosophy is over eighty years old, it was largely held in check until the 1960's. But we now have more than 5 million people who are directly employed as part of our American education establishment. Many of these accepted the anti-content gospel and never experienced the process of "going deep" into a knowledge domain. At best they are "generalists". These self-described "reformers" are threatened by knowledge experts and empowered by the devaluing of knowledge. Over the last forty years they have labored to undermine the concept of knowledge transmission, relentlessly promoting social changes that trash the very concept of a shared tradition of knowledge"

Probably the most interesting thing to come out of recent times is NCTM's 2006 journal, called Curriculum Focal Points. The journal, more or less, talks about a new list of topics that should be taught from pre-kindergarten through 8th grade. Their new information slightly contradicts the ideals brought up in their infamous 1989 paper, basing it more off of individual progress rather than the teacher effective teaching all students in the same way. The Chicago Sun Times, resenting such a contradiction from the fires starter of the Math Wars, summed up this new document as the following:

"..the NCTM council has admitted, more or less, that it goofed"

These standards created by the NCTM have been slowly implemented into the common core curriculum, but have no put an solid conclusion to the Math Wars. In fact, the journal has only seemed to slightly re-ignite the passion for reconstruction.

Also, what's the deal with the stuff going on online?

Say hello to the future of education. Well, at least say hi to biggest thing that's happened to accessing information since the creation of Google: Khan Academy

Twitter feed of Khan Academy. The company broadcasts its lessons over several platforms, not just its main website

Dominating the study habits of procrastinators across the globe and existing as one of the best general references for heavy studiers is Salman Khan. He has unintentionally brought the Math Wars to an unexpected halt. This halt may actually bring an end to the half century long conflict. The impact of online resources have originally been criticized heavily by conservative advocates pf the current New Math program, but the success that Khan Academy has shown universally throughout schools cannot be denied. Perhaps the delayed actions of the government were the best course of action that the United States Department of Education could've taken. The end of the Math Wars may comes from the hands of a single man, but nothing is written in stone quite yet.

In conclusion, the Math Wars are still alive and kicking, and no notable action has taken place in a considerable amount of time. What's even more curious though, is how passive the entirety of the United States seems to be about the decline in education. Sure, there are people who work to improve this factor, but even the government seems involved in such an long-lasting issue.

Peer Review Paragraph:

So what'd you think? Finding specific events and specific information for my topic was very difficult, so this is the best I could muster. I wish O could add in more events and people in particular, but I want to know if you guys feel the same way as well. Furthermore, I felt as thought I didn't implement pictures, quotes, and especially the social media post in very well, so please tell me if those feel off at all. Finally, I want to know if you guys actually learned anything from the guide. Some of you may not be interested in a topic like this, but I want to know if you at least got something out of it.