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There was no concept of teaching "critical thinking" in elementary school in the 50s.
Ummm....The men and women who put Neil Armstrong on the moon were out of elementary school in the 50's. The space program was well underway and they were all carrying slide rules and wearing pocket protectors.
What is the difference between "critical thinking" and "logic"?
Of course it might be a threat to religion. I wonder if most people who use the term "critical thinking" know what they are talking about. They mostly seem to be "rationalizing" their own biases.
Ummm....The men and women who put Neil Armstrong on the moon were out of elementary school in the 50's. The space program was well underway and they were all carrying slide rules and wearing pocket protectors.
There were no educational revolutions between the 40s and 50s. Those came in the 60s. So whatever they were doing in the 40s, they were still doing in the 50s.
There were no educational revolutions between the 40s and 50s. Those came in the 60s. So whatever they were doing in the 40s, they were still doing in the 50s.
From the looks of things, we need to go back to doing what was done in the 40's and 50's....
From the looks of things, we need to go back to doing what was done in the 40's and 50's....
I would agree.
I'm not opposed to social advancement, but I think those are picked up better as a matter of community immersion than specific classroom training.
An interesting tidbit I picked up not long ago: A child develops the verbal accent of his community, not his family. That suggests to me that social training can be handled as a matter of overall community immersion rather than specific classroom training.
There were no educational revolutions between the 40s and 50s. Those came in the 60s. So whatever they were doing in the 40s, they were still doing in the 50s.
I would have to agree with this. I was in elementary school in the 60's/70's when "New Math" was ushered in. New Math. Cuz, you know, math changes so vastly from decade to decade. What a bust that was. I remember being completely confused in math and had no idea that it wasn't me. I thought I was just stupid. In fact, if I were currently a young student, these days I could pin it on dyscalculia and some in the education establishment would be happy with that.
Luckily, I had teachers who saw it for what it was and had the autonomy to shelve it if they saw fit. I think that was the beginning of the wave of "new and improved" curriculums that have been ushered in. By the time my youngest were in school, Whole Language (the one where they didn't have to spell correctly) was the newest "new & improved". As a teacher, I'm forced to use a new, "new and improved" curriculum about every two years.
I would have to agree with this. I was in elementary school in the 60's/70's when "New Math" was ushered in. New Math. Cuz, you know, math changes so vastly from decade to decade. What a bust that was. I remember being completely confused in math and had no idea that it wasn't me. I thought I was just stupid. In fact, if I were currently a young student, these days I could pin it on dyscalculia and some in the education establishment would be happy with that.
Luckily, I had teachers who saw it for what it was and had the autonomy to shelve it if they saw fit. I think that was the beginning of the wave of "new and improved" curriculums that have been ushered in. By the time my youngest were in school, Whole Language (the one where they didn't have to spell correctly) was the newest "new & improved". As a teacher, I'm forced to use a new, "new and improved" curriculum about every two years.
I dunno. "New Math" had it's place...it attempted to break down all the steps, and the idea was that if you understood all the steps, and what you were actually doing...you would then arrive at the right answer.
It didn't always work that way, because it did confuse some kids...and it also presented more opportunities to foul it up, because at every step, you could foul it up...and thus get a wrong answer.
For more on new math, refer to Tom Lehrer's song about it.
I would have to agree with this. I was in elementary school in the 60's/70's when "New Math" was ushered in. New Math. Cuz, you know, math changes so vastly from decade to decade. What a bust that was. I remember being completely confused in math and had no idea that it wasn't me. I thought I was just stupid. In fact, if I were currently a young student, these days I could pin it on dyscalculia and some in the education establishment would be happy with that.
Luckily, I had teachers who saw it for what it was and had the autonomy to shelve it if they saw fit. I think that was the beginning of the wave of "new and improved" curriculums that have been ushered in. By the time my youngest were in school, Whole Language (the one where they didn't have to spell correctly) was the newest "new & improved". As a teacher, I'm forced to use a new, "new and improved" curriculum about every two years.
Same thing happened in reading, going from phonics to "whole word" (essentially, treating a whole word as a single symbol, like a hieroglyph).
I would have to agree with this. I was in elementary school in the 60's/70's when "New Math" was ushered in. New Math. Cuz, you know, math changes so vastly from decade to decade. What a bust that was. I remember being completely confused in math and had no idea that it wasn't me. I thought I was just stupid. In fact, if I were currently a young student, these days I could pin it on dyscalculia and some in the education establishment would be happy with that.
Luckily, I had teachers who saw it for what it was and had the autonomy to shelve it if they saw fit. I think that was the beginning of the wave of "new and improved" curriculums that have been ushered in. By the time my youngest were in school, Whole Language (the one where they didn't have to spell correctly) was the newest "new & improved". As a teacher, I'm forced to use a new, "new and improved" curriculum about every two years.
I started kindergarten in 1960 and graduated HS in 73. I heard the term "new math" in elementary school, but we spent a large part of every day in elementary school on basic arithmetic. Through 6th grade, we studied addition, subtration, multiplication and division including decimals and fractions. We never had geometry or pre-algebra or even negative numbers. I was placed in an advance math class in 7th grade and this was considered "new math." It was actually pre-algebra. Many students were still doing basic arithmetic in 7th grade.
I think the advantage to this old approach is the majority of kids thoroughly learned basic math that they will use every day. Many average kids today can't multiply or divide without a calculator. Many average students don't understand the concepts of multiplication or division, and don't have a clue how to do problems that include fractions. Many of these kids have been thoroughly confused by new teaching approaches and having to learn geometry and pre-algebra starting in 2nd grade. We also got much more practice since we were in the same room all day and did not have daily recess and specials classes like art, music, computers, library and phys. education. There were many days that we spent over half the day on math.
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What a bust that was. I remember being completely confused in math and had no idea that it wasn't me. I thought I was just stupid. In fact, if I were currently a young student, these days I could pin it on dyscalculia and some in the education establishment would be happy with that.
