New, New Math

In the 1970s a band was formed in my hometown of Rochester, New York to celebrate freedom from the multiplication tables. The New Math rock band was “whatever you wanted it to be” for the occasion. I thought its music was incoherent, but then I didn’t like the Beetles either. The New Math big hit was “Die Trying.” R.I.P.

Meanwhile, our daughter Carolynne was struggling with the new math in grammar school. New Math emphasized abstract concepts like set theory and number bases other than 10, rather than arithmetic and the multiplication tables. This new focus was frequently dogmatic. In some cases first-graders were taught axiomatic set theory. Poor Carolynne.

Many parents and teachers complained that the new curriculum was far too abstract and essentailly worthless if it took the place of traditional math training. In the end it was concluded that the experiment was not working, and New Math fell out of favor. Too late for Carolynne but not for John.

Tom Leyher wrote a satirical song named New Math, making fun of the more absurd aspects of the subject: "...in the new approach, as you know, the important thing is to understand what you're doing, rather than to get the right answer."

New Math was a disaster for a generation of kids. Now we have a new, new math, also called “Ethnomath” that is truly appalling.

In the 1990s, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics issued standards that disparaged basic skills like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, since all of these could be easily performed on a calculator. The council preferred real-life problem solving, using everyday situations.

To get an idea of what’s involved take a look at the index of an Ethnomath textbook. Under “F” you find “families (in poverty data), fast food nutrition data, fat in fast food, feasibility study, feeding tours, ferris wheel, fish, fishing, flags, flight, floor plan, flower beds, food, football, Ford Mustang, franchises and fund-raising carnival.

Now math is being used as a political tool by educators who call themselves "critical theorists" to advance social justice. A new textbook, "Rethinking Mathematics: Teaching Social Justice by the Numbers," shows how problem solving, ethnomath and political action can be merged. Among its topics are: "Sweatshop Accounting," with units on poverty, globalization and the unequal distribution of wealth.

Note to parents: The countries that regularly beat our students in tests of mathematics do not use the subject to steer students into political action. (Diane Ravitch, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.)