The Math Myth: And Other STEM Delusions

The Math Myth: And Other STEM Delusions  is a must read that challenges almost all of America’s present educational shibboleths: the push for universal standards that stress STEM-ready education in high schools, especially the emphasis on the requirement, in the name of rigor, that all students achieve some degree of abstract mathematics proficiency. Along the way, using data, he excoriates the Common Core (especially its mathematics component) and the overuse of standardized tests to judge both student competency and teacher effectiveness. It was an eye-opener for me, and I recommend it to anyone who has even the slightest degree of interest in education and educational policy.His primary point is that abstract mathematics – proving of theorems in geometry or factoring polynomials in algebra or doing calculus integrals – does not teach skills that most students need. While that fraction of students who do go on into science or advanced engineering might need that level of mathematics, most students, even those who go into technical fields, do not. Instead, the mathematics requirement presently in place in the Common Core functions as an institutional barrier that is, to a great extent, the reason that many students fail to complete high school, or cannot into college, or, given the math requirements at colleges, fail to complete their degrees. It is, in his view, a costly disaster for our society, wasting human capital on an exorbitant scale.Hacker is a social scientist, not a mathematician, and he uses numbers and data and statistics professionally, but he argues that it is actually bad for our society to require abstract mathematical competency of all students – most of whom will never use an iota of it again.One of the more intriguing bits is his demonstration that the SAT and ACT standardized tests (a boon for the companies that supply them) actually discriminate by gender, arguing that the emphasis on speed in the math components of these exams favors males. I am not yet in a position to either accept or reject his argument, but it merits more than a cursory glance. It has, at least, the ring of plausibility.He argues that the national policies toward mathematics education are largely set by what he calls the ‘mandarins,’ a collection of mathematicians (not mathematics teachers), supported by the political punch of slogans like STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and by large corporations that want to hire STEM-ready graduates, even though they represent only a small fraction of all students.I have long agreed that the current emphasis on high school calculus is misplaced. My preference has been for students to learn statistics. But even here, I got a wake-up call. Hacker argues that the ‘mandarins’ of statistics make the typical statistics course into the same kind of abstract and theoretical enterprise that the calculus people do. Instead, he argues for developing what he calls “Numeracy,” sufficient familiarity with numbers and numerical reasoning to permit intelligent interaction with our complex, modern society.Stephen D. Senturia taught electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for 36 years. He now blogs on educational issues at[...] and writes fiction. His first novel,  One Man's Purpose: A Novel  was published in November, 2015. The Math Myth: And Other STEM DelusionsOne Man's Purpose: A Novel

Unfortunate that Hacker tried to use mathematics in his criticism of the current mathematics curriculum, because his math errors will distract mathematicians and other "STEM" practitioners from some basic truths.For example:In March of 2008, the National Mathematics Advisory Panel presented its Final Report to the President of the United States and the Secretary of Education:"This Panel, diverse in experience, expertise, and philosophy, agrees broadly that the delivery system in mathematics education -- the system that translates mathematical knowledge into value and ability for the next generation -- is broken and must be fixed."Since that time the "Common Core" math standards have replaced the various state standards that were for the most part derived from standards developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).However, an original goal of the NCTM, that all students should have the opportunity to learn mathematics, became "students will be required to learn mathematics." This requirement works for some students and punishes others. Many of the students who succesfully pass through the school maths gateway will quickly forget the topics they studied. In some cases, it's just as well, since the "mathematics" they are taught will be a collection of manipulative tricks that avoid real math understanding -- like the FOIL pseudo-algorithm for avoiding the binomial theorem.Hacker points out the "myths" and "delusions" that keep our present broken system in place. THE MATH MYTH and Other STEM Delusions presents a detailed argument for alternatives to Algebra as a required school subject for all students. In its place, Hacker suggests a course in "Numeracy" he has taught in the Mathematics Department at Queens College, New York. The topics in his course include data analysis related to political representation, finding numerical patterns that indicate fraud in income tax returns, patterns of consumer purchasing, and other examples of quantitative reasoning. He even shows how to approximate a value for the mathematical constant Pi, using basic arithmetic.Hacker is not "anti-math," and he describes mathematics as a subject of "inherent beauty." However, he does not see this beauty being communicated to the many frustrated students who would like to pursue careers that do not require math. Hacker does not blame math teachers for the unreasonable pressure put on students to grasp the abstractions of what he calls "academic math." Instead, he faults an elite group of experts -- Hacker calls them "the Mandarins" -- who advise on local and national educational policy, including the "Common Core" state standar. The data Hacker cites include high failure rates on school exit exams, statewide proficiency test results, community college remedial math class statistics, and other measures. Although people who have been successful in math class cite their own progress as anecdotal evidence, Hacker claims the facts show that algebra, far from being a pipeline to success, is "...a barrier [that] ends up suppressing opportunities, stifling creativity, and denying society a wealth of varied talents."Naturally, advocates of required STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education will disagree and point out that Hacker's background is in political science, not mathematics. But this description of school math from a different viewpoint can help readers determine whether we are making educational decisions based on facts or myths. The list of references for each chapter provides a good basis for objective discussion.

A fabulous book!! I have 2 kids, and urge every parent with school age children to read it. Math classes will be one of the biggest hurdles for your child or college student. A lot of kids--kids with high reading comprehension, artistic kids, inventive kids--are going to struggle with the avalanche of "academic math," that few if ANY of America's great inventors, lawyers, and businessmen ever took.If you wonder why you can't grasp the homework your kids bring home, why they are being assigned this work, what it has to do with college, or why you need to spend more money on a math tutor to explain what the teacher completely failed to make clear, this is the book you've been looking for.Kids in many private and better public schools are so lost in math classes today, their parents hire private math tutors to help them just get a passing grade. What kind of system is this? 10 to one that your kid struggling in math or dreading a math class is not unintelligent--its the way its taught and the type of math loaded onto smart, intellectually agile kids who should not be dragooned though these academic math classes. Also ten to one that your kid with an aptitude for math will not be nurtured by the courses he or she receives now.This book is also for anyone wondering about high drop out rates in high school (do we really need to insist that everyone pass advanced math to graduate?). It explains how math used to be taught, usually in a more practical and less academic way. When kids "got it." When they could use it. When we had more than enough engineers and inventors.But as math became the preserve of academics, it has become utterly unconnected with practical application, with fairly predictable results. What are we doing, when smart kids, who will never ever want to be an engineer, or rocket scientist, have to routinely hire tutors to help them pass abstruse math tests? What are we doing, when less affluent families that cannot hire tutors, have kids lost in the class, who fail or do poorly, damaging their GPA for no reason connected to their intended field of study?And for the kids who enjoy math, are these academic classes the right way, the way to encourage kids to take more math and apply it scientifically and practically?This is an excellent book on a provocative topic.

Some years ago I and other consultants were paid handsomely to teach problem solving to teams of people employed by a well-known Silicon Valley company. The company sponsors of the training wanted all of the trainees to have five days of fairly advanced statistics (known as "Stats-Hell Week" to the trainees) in addition to ten days of problem solving methods. We told the sponsors that five days of stats was overkill, and that most of the problems facing the teams could be dealt with using arithmetic calculations and simple statistical charts. The sponsors turned out to be what Andrew Hacker calls math "Mandarins" who accused us of trying to dumb-down he curriculum. We almost lost the contract! So, like good consultants, we taught the advanced stats week to one and all. But not for long: after three class cycles, the participants rebelled, saying that the advanced stuff was unnecessary theoretical fluff for their projects, and Hell-Week disappeared.Will Hacker's common sense proposals for the teaching and use of math be implemented? Hacker himself has doubts, and rightly so. Consider his comments on the endowed "Teaching Chair in Mathematics" at UC Irvine. The occupant of the chair was supposed to enhance the teaching of K-12 math in California. Hacker proposed that the chair be given to a seasoned tenth-grade math teacher from Fresno or Santa Rosa, though he doubted that would happen. He was right to have his doubts. The current holder of the Chair at Irvine is a PhD formerly a math professor at Stanford whose Wikipedia page notes that in 1984 obtained a complete solution to the Yamabe problem on compact manifolds. I'm guessing that you won't find those manifolds on a car engine in Fresno. Nothing on the page mentions high school math classes.Written with Hacker's usual clarity and wit, "The Math Myth" covers much, much more than mathematics. All hail to Hacker!

I may write more in the future but one point must be made. I have taught math at almost every level from kindergarten to graduate school, including 3 years in essentially all black elementary schools, 3 years at a private elementary school, 5 years at the university level, including math for elementary school teachers at UCBerkeley. THE POINT: ALMOST ALL teachers of math in K-12 are INCOMPETENT to teach math at any level. In my class of 25 would be elementary school teachers I would have funked 100% if I had been permitted. The sad truth is that one needs a minimal level of mathematical sophistication to teach any level of math as math, not some boring stupid bastardized version of math. I'm sorry folks but an elementary school teacher teaching math (and I mean basic arithmetic) when she/he doesn't have a strong positive attitude towards math( e.g.would read a popularized article or book on some math topic) is WORSE THAN NOTHING. I found that I was using a significant part of my mathematical sophistication developed from studying( and passing) my PhD exams to teach math in the FOURTH GRADE! Try leading a class discussion in the 4th grade as to whether zero is a number (the Greeks and Romans didn't have zero) without some math sophistication. Without overly personalizing and /or bragging--in my elementary school classes ( not specially selected) math was by and large the students' favorite subject --go figure. Kids can easily love math because it's something they can do. P.S. Without Algebra II you will never understand basic classical physics, i.e., you will never have chance to understand any of the basic principles of the physical world--you'll be stuck in the 16th century or worse. I guess this is ok because you don't have to appreciate the greatness of the Scientific Revolution to do the bidding of your corporate masters in your stupid boring job.