Word: algebraical
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When I retired from teaching in 1973, the new math had already begun to destroy the teaching of algebra. In the dim period that followed, I kept hoping for something like the new textbook written by John Saxon [Dec. 21]. Unfortunately, it is too late for some of the misled students of the '70s who are not able to deal with complexities such as filling in Form 1040. For today's students, the Saxon book spells a renaissance...
...mathematics test scores of high school students have declined so frighteningly, they must have been higher at one time. I do not believe algebra has become that much harder. It is well known that American high schools are graduating many students who simply cannot read. People who cannot read cannot be expected to learn algebra. I hate to see a subject of such precision and beauty being translated into third-grade terminology just to make it accessible to those who are not able to appreciate...
...chancellor for the University of California at Davis: "There are costs in the generic sense of money spent. The other cost is in the misdirection of talents in teaching." While some remedial programs hire specially trained teachers, many untenured-and frustrated-Ph.D.s find themselves teaching basic reading and Algebra I rather than literature or calculus. Adds California State University Chancellor Glenn Dumke: "Either the state university will direct its energy to the full meaning of 'higher education' or its campuses will continue being made into centers of remediation...
...future of American mathematics teaching. There are those who advocate a return to basics through practice and drill, and those who insist that practice without abstract theory is ultimately limiting. Both sides are in a sense right. Yet Saxon's main point contradicts neither. He simply affirms that Algebra I is not the place for obscure theory, which can be introduced later, when students know how to use algebra well enough to profit from it. "Algebra is the basic language of all mathematics beyond arithmetic," he says. In his view, today's puzzled students do not really master...
...root of the word algebra is the Arabic al-jabr, which means "bringing together." Saxon's synthesis of traditional practice and drill with the fundamentals of modern algebraic theory taught clearly may provide an alternative to the present dismal state of mathematics teaching. Alfred North Whitehead, the English mathematician and philosopher, once noted that "the study of mathematics is apt to commence in disappointment." If John Saxon is right, the study of algebra may not end so. -By Richard Stengel. Reported by Jeanne-Marie North/New York