Word: argumentative
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Much of Joy's argument was based on Moore's Law, which holds that technological capabilities double every 18 months...
...that's not the sort of argument that this book, and its promoters, are interested in. A quick Internet search for "5/5/2000" brings up a company called The Survival Center, which maintains a website for the author and sells copies, posters and videos as well as other books with contradictory cataclysmic predictions for the millennium. It also sells Y2K-era survivalist equipment--food, water, medical equipment, underground shelter kits--all the while telling readers how to survive the catastrophes by ordering "Basic Preparedness," which is $16.95 plus $2.95 shipping and handling...
...stakes are high in this argument. State curriculum frameworks need to be written, and these serve as basis for assessment tests; some of the reformers receive substantial educational research grants, consulting fees or textbook royalties. For now, the reformers have lost the battle in California. They are redoubling their efforts in Massachusetts, where the curriculum framework is being revised. The struggle is fierce, by academic standards...
...current fight echoes an earlier argument, over the "New Math" of the '60s and '70s. Then, as now, the old ways were thought to have failed. A small band of mathematicians proposed shifting the emphasis towards a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts, though on a much more abstract level than today's reformers. Math educators took up the cause, but over time, most mathematicians and parents became unhappy with the results. What had gone wrong? Preoccupied with "understanding," the "New Math" reformers had neglected computational skills. Mathematical understanding, it turned out, did not develop well without sufficient computational practice. Understanding...
American schoolchildren rank near the bottom in international comparisons of mathematical knowledge. Our reformers see this as an argument for their ideas. But look at Singapore, the undisputed leader in these comparisons: their math textbooks try hard to engage the students and to stimulate their interest. In early grades, they present mathematical problems playfully, often in the guise of puzzles. Yet the textbooks are coherent, systematic, efficient, and cover all the basics--worlds apart from the reform curricula in this country. How I wish Singapore's approach were adopted in my daughter's school...