What Does a Failed Math Test Tell us?

Cross-posted from WhereIStand

The President of a Public School Teacher’s Union was the victim of an on-air ambush: 

The radio audience was live and the question for teachers union president Randi Weingarten involved sixth-grade math: "What’s 1/3rd plus 1/4th?"

Weingarten, however, is a not a sixth-grader or a math teacher. She’s a lawyer and a union boss who once taught high school social studies – and no one told her there was going to be a quiz.

"I would actually have to do it on paper," she said when asked yesterday to complete the math problem on WNYC’s "Brian Lehrer Show" where she was a guest.

Mike Pesca, who was filling in for Lehrer, introduced the show’s education topic by saying American college grads can’t do basic math while high school grads in Canada and middle-schoolers in India have no trouble.

After Weingarten stumbled, another guest quickly produced the correct answer: 7/12ths, leaving Weingarten to explain herself.

"I do it the old-fashioned way," she said. "You take your paper, your pen, you add it up and get the fractional whatever."

Now, when you talk about the "fractional whatever" I have serious doubts that you could actually solve the problem on paper, but let’s leave that aside. 

I could solve the problem, but don’t think this actually tells us a whole lot about the general shape of public schools or of Teachers. It suggests sadly that much of our time in schools is wasted by the very nature of the system. 

We learn facts that we’ll never need, never use, and never really wanted to know in the first place. There;s a certain argument (popular among students in particular) that we get more math, history than we really need. In my position with a major financial institution, I never use anything more complex than the four basic functions. 

In much of the liberal arts world, you never need to make complex calculations involoving Algebra, Geometry, or Trig. In fact, having finished school, many people never do anything more complex than figuring out their taxes. 

Why do we have to learn all that math? Because we may end up choosing to go into a field later in life that requires it. Example: Computer programming. Of course, at that point remedial teaching may be needed, but the remedial will be easier than going through the whole course without firsthand knowledge to begin with (at least in theory.) Still, if you plan on going into Education, you better memorize those fraction multiplication and division steps. You’ll need them. 

Hat Tip: Club for Growth