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People don't have the patience to learn either subject...
Both take a lot of time to learn and a real commitment.
I agree with this to an extent. But understanding science and math takes an analytical thought process. It takes a well above average IQ. Most people don't have the aptitude to understand math and science at a high level.
I think what happens is that lack of aptitude leads to frustration and impatience and so those with limited aptitude for it give up. So their lack of understanding is even lower than it could be with hard work. That is why there is such a large gap between those that "get it" and those that don't.
Some people are more right brained than left brained. Some people are just good at math and science. Math involves logic and some people lack that. Science is a lot of memorization and understanding complex processes. Some people just dont have what it takes to learn math or science and some people are just lazy.
People don't have the patience to learn either subject...
Both take a lot of time to learn and a real commitment.
We are teaching a nation of children who have been taught to take the easy way out. They've been taught that their education is everyone's job except theirs. I can't teach my students math and science unless they are willing to learn math and science and learning is an active activity not a passive one. Too many of my students want me to open their heads and pour in the information with no effort on their part and their parents want to blame me when Jr. doesn't learn. work. I can teach but I can't make them learn. THEY have the power to take the information and do something with it. If they don't, I'm pushing a rope. I can put in all the effort in the world and it's not going anywhere.
I find it very sad that we have to trick our kids into learning by being entertaining. I just can't make everything entertaining. Sometimes, you just have to sit down and do the work to learn. When students are unwilling to do that, and my experience is most are unwilling to do so, they don't really learn the material. However, they are very skilled at memorizing just long enough to get through the test.
Because learning depends on student effort, we, seriously, need to go back to a tracked system. The top of the class should not be held back because the bottom would rather goof off and count on the teacher lobbing off material so they don't have to learn it due to running out of time.
Some people are more right brained than left brained. Some people are just good at math and science. Math involves logic and some people lack that. Science is a lot of memorization and understanding complex processes. Some people just dont have what it takes to learn math or science and some people are just lazy.
Professor Ericsson and his colleagues have spent years studying top performers from many different fields - science, mathematics, sports, the arts, business, etc.
The team analyzed reams of performance statistics and biographical data as well as volumes of data produced from years of their own experiments with expert performers.
The verdict - experts and high achievers are made far more often than born and the driver of their performance is deliberate practice.
The researchers found that deliberate practice develops expertise when it incorporates specific goal setting, gives immediate feedback and focuses on technique equally with results.
For exactly the same reason that most people can't understand Turkish. They have not put in the conversational time to become fluent in the languages.
Every child in Turkey speaks and understands Turkish with no difficulty whatsoever, even the ones who are borderline retarded. All it took was exposure. And Turkish is a thousand times more complex than Geometry, and not nearly as logical. Any person is capable of learning any basic structure, with sufficient exposure.
A musician could ask why can't most people read music. An engineer might ask why can't most people read blueprints or schematics.
I don't think they have a clue how to teach math here in LA (in highschool).
1st - There's too many classes in highschool. They should cut it to 3 or 4 classes a semester instead of 6. 6 is too many, especially if you're bused in (live a long way from school), you're into after school activities, sports, work.
It's going to be hard to master higher level math if you've already got a full plate on your hands.
2nd - I think the scheduling is absurd in some cases....i.e. starting algebra or algebra II at 8 am?
Do you really think a class of 30, 35 students is going to come in and master those math books when they barely woke up an hour ago? I don't think there's much common sense in scheduling. I think it serves the school district much more than the student.
Esp if you fail and have to repeat. Just take another class at 8 or 9 am! Perfect. Makes a lot of sense. Putting someone in the same system after they've failed doesn't have much common sense.
How about smaller classes, at 10, 11, 12....that would make a little bit more sense. There doesn't seem to be much that accomdates the student who's getting a D, or D-.
3rd - Assuming everyone learns the same at the same speed. Patently absurd and false. A class of 35 students.
10 are white or asian, middle class. 20 are latino (10 don't speak english at home). 5 are immigrants from europe or the middle east.
Hmmm.....lets just test them all at the same speed. The immigrant kids from europe or asia might have learned a different method than saxon math. If you put them on what they're already familiar with, they might do better.
The middle class kids are probably going to be much more advanced than kids who are poorer (more reading material at home, their brains can handle more information). We also teach a mile wide and an inch deep here. How many topics in geometry or algebra do we cover here, vs europe or asia? We try to cover everything, and people end up learning nothing.
I think we almost purposely set people up for failure here in math. There's an awful lot of people that benefit from kids not knowing math.
-Banks, credit card companies. Computing compound interest, understanding loans, etc.
-Student loans. How long it'll take to pay something off.
I think there's more predatory lending here and lending is more aggressive to 18-23 year olds, than in other countries. I don't think they want their "customers" to know the full set of answers. They're going to make money $$$, on the ones who slip through the cracks.
i find it interesting how a person can easily learn one hard subject but not another. for me, i had no problem learning Russian. on the other hand i had to switch my major from engineering to political science because i seem incapable of learning above basic high school algebra and a BA in PolySci dosent involve maths at my school. i also had no problem with science as long as it dident involve too much math. math sucks.
Then, on the other hand, how important is it for most people to understand science and math? If it were important that everyone be a whiz at those things, we'd find a way to teach them to everyone, like we do reading and writing and driving a car. And, if it were critical to modern life, I can assure that anyone who can learn to read and write can learn basic math.
But nearly everyone, simply through observation, can pretty well predict that a round object will roll off a table and fall on the floor, without needing to be taught scientific principles, methods, or forumlas, and thereby save themselves a lifetime of inconveniences as a result of surprises in the natural world. That is all most people need. Same for mathematics. If you can count on your fingers, you know enough to get you through, and anything harder than that, you can ask someone to do it for you, like not needing to wear a watch because you can ask somebody else what time it is.
^Science teaches critical thinking in a manner not found in reading or writing. It is not about being able to predict the nature or a falling body.
Now, look at our populace and ask "did they learn critical thinking skills?"
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We are teaching a nation of children who have been taught to take the easy way out. They've been taught that their education is everyone's job except theirs. I can't teach my students math and science unless they are willing to learn math and science and learning is an active activity not a passive one. Too many of my students want me to open their heads and pour in the information with no effort on their part and their parents want to blame me when Jr. doesn't learn. work. I can teach but I can't make them learn. THEY have the power to take the information and do something with it. If they don't, I'm pushing a rope. I can put in all the effort in the world and it's not going anywhere.
