Math score crisis was predictable

RE: MATH IN SCHOOLS

I am a retired teacher with most of my 30-year career teaching Grade 5/6. I have been writing letters for 10 years about the math problem in elementary schools to newspapers, government and to EQAO.

Using the new “discovery/experiential” method of teaching math without any memorized foundation, kids just “wander” through the early years of math. And they discover nothing ... no relationships between numbers, no accumulation of memorized math facts. They never achieve the awareness of the amazing interconnectedness of math ... that 1/2=10/20=100/200=50/100=. 50=50% etc.

Fractions, decimals, per cent, ratios, etc. are all equal! Once kids realize this relationship (based on memorization of facts), they can make progress. Without memorization of facts, without filling their brains with numbers and patterns and relationships, they simply cannot.

They possess no math foundation and no knowledge base and cannot move forward. If you just want kids to play and discover and not work hard and not have clear expectations to memorize facts before the end of Grade 4, then this is the result. And those who write trendy Ontario government curriculum and call people like me “old school” have caused this. It was predictable.

Chris King, Simcoe