Word: algebra
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...austere and regular as a mathematical formula, his carriage as straight as the vertical axis in a Cartesian graph. Teacher John Saxon's eyes are the one variable in the equation: they burn with a visionary gleam. His vision is simple: a future in which the basics of algebra, the building blocks of all higher mathematics, become understandable to all American students...
...messiah. He still resembles what he once was: a professional soldier. A graduate of West Point, he is a World War II veteran, a decorated Korean War combat pilot and a former engineering instructor at the U.S. Air Force Academy. After retiring in 1970, Saxon began teaching math and algebra at Oscar Rose Junior College in Midwest City, a suburb of Oklahoma City...
...soon discovered that his students could not remember what he taught them from one week to the next, and as the year progressed their accumulated comprehension of algebra did not. Unlike many teachers, he did not blame the students or himself. The culprit, he finally decided, was the textbook...
Saxon became convinced that most introductory algebra texts used in high schools are unclear and confusing, often hindering students from learning the rudiments. He attributed the frightening decline in mathematics test scores across the country to abstruse textbooks written in the name of the New Math by "arrogantly inept" mathematicians who do not teach beginners. Like many other classroom algebra teachers, he found that such textbooks emphasize mathematical theory at the expense of practice and are usually written in baffling jargon. Emphasis is placed on rapid exposure to many "topics," or procedures. Before students can master one topic, explains Saxon...
Saxon decided to do something about the teaching of algebra. He decided, in fact, to write his own textbook. His notion was simple enough, a readable text requiring the students to do continuous review. Algebra, he points out, is a skill, and like any other, it must be learned thoroughly. In 1979 Saxon came to New York City and tried to sell his idea for an Algebra I text. The conservative world of high school textbook publishers, where new books often tend to be virtual clones of the most successful standard text, abruptly turned him away...