To the editor:
Parents and taxpayers need to seriously challenge the decision of the South Whidbey School District’s math curriculum committee to select the Discover Math series of textbooks (published by Key Curriculum Press).
These books are nonsense. Experts such as Linda Plattner of the Washington Board of Education found these textbooks to be “mathematically unsound.” Professor Jack Lee of UW states, “‘Discovering Algebra’ and ‘Discovering Geometry’ have too much verbiage and too little in the way of clearly- stated mathematical principles. Definitions, computational algorithms and formulas are vaguely stated, if stated at all. Proofs, the essence of geometry, are nearly absent. The program does not include enough practice for mastery. Parents will find them incomplete and confusing.”
Parents who care that their children have a sound mathematical background must put pressure on the school board and demand that these “Discovery” texts are not adopted. If your children hope to be able to compete in the job market, where a strong foundation in mathematics is requisite, then these textbooks must not be used in our schools.
These textbooks follow a methodology called constructionism. I urge responsible parents to educate themselves on this approach. An independent study by researchers from universities in Europe and the United States explain that “minimally-guided instruction is less effective and less efficient than instructional approaches that place a strong emphasis on the guidance of the student learning process.”
Remember that even Sir Isaac Newton said that his great achievements were made possible because he stood on the shoulders of giants. He was giving credit to those who laid the groundwork for his discoveries. Now our school board is throwing out all previous knowledge, and having children discover what took millennia for the greatest minds in the world to learn.
The data against the Key Curriculum/Discovering Math series is unanimous, compelling and overwhelming. That the district stumbled in the dark to the wrong answer is unarguable. The only question before us now is how to recover from this terrible decision.
I would ask the district to start the entire textbook selection process over, and make the majority of decision-makers those who are practicing mathematicians, with just one math educator on the decision-making committee.
Robert Boenish
Clinton
