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Re: Everybody Counts
Posted:
Mar 3, 1995 12:10 AM
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> 1. How do you think we can prepare students to be "mentally fit"
> workers?
This seems a difficult task at the college level. I suspect it is easier at the
elementary level. We seem to be the only society in the world which believes
"you either have it or you don't" with regard to mathematics; elsewhere, they
think math is hard and requires effort to succeed at. By the time (many) kids
get to college, they are quite resistant to efforts to make them think. They
tend to not want to bother with understanding, just "tell us how to do the
problem". I don't mean to be overly cynical; my point is that it has to start
at the elementary level with a good approach and that society must recognize
the value of effort.
> 3. Do you think that differences in accomplishment in school mathematics
> are due primarily to differences in innate ability, to differences in
> individual effort, or to differences in opportunity to learn?
>
All of the above. The greatest factor in my classes is effort.
> 4. What's wrong with "remediation" as a means of reaching "students at
> risk"?
>
Depends on what is meant by "remediation". Later respondents suggested
remediation is just a repetition of flawed efforts, possibly at a faster pace.
I have seen many students succeed where they had previously failed by being
able to tackle the subject at a slower pace with an instructor/tutor/aide
to whom they can relate.
Rick Simon
ULV
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