MathEducationInAmerica

TheProgramforInternationalStudentAssessmentreportsthatUSstudentsrankedbelow

averageinmathamongtheworldsdevelopedcountriesin2012EducationWeekreportsthat29
nationsoutperformedAmericainmathematicsbyasignificantlylargemarginthesamestudy
alsostatesthatthemathscoresofstudentsinShanghaiaretheequivalentofovertwoyearsof
formalschoolingaheadofthoseobservedinMassachusetts,itselfastrongperformingUSstate
(Chappell).AllthesestatisticalresultsprovethatAmericanmathematicseducationhasfallen
behindthatofothercountriesintheworld.
SowhatistheproblemwithAmericanmatheducationandwhatisthebestwayto
preparestudentsinthefieldofmathematics?InthearticleHabitsofMind:AnOrganizing
PrincipleforMathematicsCurriculabyAlCuoco.EPaulGoldenbergandJuneMark,they
presentasolutiontothisproblembyintroducinganidealmathclasshelpingstudentstothink
likemathematicians.YetinDarrylYongsarticleMathProfessorTeachesHighSchool
Classes,Yongpresentedtothereadersarealworldmathclassalongwithalltheproblemsthat
comewiththestudentspersonalbackground.Bothauthorsarerightintheirviewsandideasof
thecurrentproblemwithmatheducation,butthereisnoperfectsolutiontosolveit.Inmy
opinion,oneofthemostimportantfactorthataffectone'sabilitytolearnishis/herpersonal
backgroundincludingthestudent'sbilingualhistory.Thebestwaytoteachmathematicsisto
designthecurriculumbaseonthelevelofstudentsmathematicalreasoningabilityandtheir
personaleducationalbackground,andtocombinemathematicseducationwithreallife
applications.

InthearticleHabitsofMind,Cuocoetalexplaintheproblemofmathematics

educationinhighschool,Highschoolstudentshavestudiedsomethinginschoolthathasbeen
calledmathematics,buthasverylittletodowiththewaymathematicsiscreatedorapplied
outsidetheschoolThegoalisnottotrainlargenumbersofhighschoolstudentstobe
universitymathematicians.Rather,itistohelphighschoolstudentslearnandadoptsomeofthe
waysthatmathematiciansthinkaboutproblems(Cuoco376).Theideathatmathseemstobe
outsidethecontextofreallifeisgenerallytheanswerIgetwhenIaskmyfriendswhytheydont
enjoymath.Cuocothenexplainsthatstudentsshouldapproachmathproblemsbybecoming
comfortablewithandskilledatbringingmathematicalmeaningtoproblemsandstatements
throughdefinition,systematization,abstraction,orlogicalconnectionmakingandseekingand
developingnewwaysofdescribingsituations.(Cuoco400).Cuocostatesthatmathematicsis
aboutdevelopingagoodunderstandingoftheoremsandotherconceptsthrough
experimentationsandtrials,andfindingconnectionsbetweenideastosolvetheproblems.He
thenlistsmanygreatwaysoftrainingstudentstobecomegoodthinkers,forexample,being
patternsniffers,describersandtinkerers.Cuocoencouragesstudentstotryouttheirown
thoughts,givepreciseexplanationsoftheirstepstosolveproblems,andtobenotafraidtoshare
theirfindingswitheachotherandcollaborateontheirworks.Inthearticle,Cuocoalsopointsout
howmathematiciansusinggeometricandalgebraicthinkingtoseeproblemswithmultiple
pointsofview(Cuoco386).Mostimportantly,Cuocosays,Amathematicscoursemustsurely
containtheresultsofmathematicalthinkingratherthanaroundtheresultsThismakesit
possibletodesigncoursesthatmeettheneedsofstudentswhowillpursueadvanced
mathematicalstudy,atthesametimeservingthosewhowillnotgoontoadvancedmathematical

study,butwhowillneverthelessusethesewaysofthinkinginotherresearchlikedomainssuch
asinvestigativejournalism,diagnosisoftheillsofacaroraperson,andsoon(Cuoco401).
Developinghabitsofmindtothinkinthewayofmathematicianscanhelpstudentsbecome
betterthinkers,andbecomemoreadeptintheirabilitytoapplymathematicalreasoningintheir
futurecareer.
Cuocosargumentindevelopingamathematicianshabitofthinkingisdesignedforan
idealclassroomsetting,howeveritisnotaspracticalwhenwetrytoimplementitinarealworld
mathclass.Forexample,inthearticleAdventuresinTeaching:AProfessorGoestoHigh
SchooltoLearnaboutTeachingMathbyDarrylYong.YongstatesinhisarticleIthinkthe
bestwecansayisthateachstudentisapersonwhoseattitudesandcapacityforlearningis
greatlyshapedbypastandpresentcircumstances(Yong).Studentsabilitytoreasonislargely
influencedbytheirgeneraleducationalbackground.Yongsays,engagingstudentsin
meaningfulthinkingandhelpingthemtodevelopusefullifeskillsaregreat,buttheprogram
(ProjectBasedLearning)wasnotimplementedwholeheartedly(Yong).Thisideaprovesthat
CuocosHabitsofMindisnotasperfectasitmightseemtobe.Engagestudentsin
meaningfulthinkingsoundsgreatonpaper,yetitdoesnotseemsoeasywhenappliedtoreal
life.
TheproblemwithAmericanmathematicseducationhasbeendebatedforalongtime.
Thousandsofpeoplearecomingupwithnewwaystosolveit,yettheproblemstillexiststoday
inoursociety.IthinkthatAmericanmatheducationreformshouldstartfromanewcurriculum
design.Startingfromgeometryofhighschool,mathematicstextbooksshouldbewrittenbased
onthespecificmathematicsreasoninglevelsofdifferentstudents,andstartingfromthevery

basicconcepts.Forexample,Itookgeometryformyfirstyearinhighschool.SinceIlivein
Bedford,MA,wherekidsingeneralhaveatleastsomebackgroundinmiddleschoolgeometry
likeformulasforareaofsquareorcircles.Atschool,wewentdirectlytothecongruence
theoremsthroughourgeometrycurriculum,justastheCommonCoreStatesStandardsrequired.
Duringsummervacationacoupleyearsago,IvolunteeredasamathtutoratWorcester,MAfor
asummerhighschoolmathcamp.ThekidsinthecamparemostlyEnglishasSecondLanguage
students,andmostofthemarerecentimmigrantsthathaveSpanishastheirfirstlanguage.When
Istartedtheclasswithgeometryactivitiesthatinvolvessimpleequationslikefindingareasof
squareorcircles,themajorityofthekidshadnoideawhatIwastalkingabout.Becauseof
differentlinguisticbackgroundandtheneedtotransitionintoacompletelynewenvironment
withanewlanguage,kidsthesameageacrossMassachusettscanhavesignificantlydifferent
classroomexperience.Theseexperiencesinschoolcanhaveamajorimpactonthebilingual
studentsabilitytolearnandatthesametimeimpacttheirknowledgeformath.
TheInstitutionofEducationScienceNationalCenterforEducationStatisticsreportedin
2014thattherearearound6.0to9.9percentofEnglishasSecondLanguagestudentsin
Massachusetts.AndthesestudentsareallcurrentlyenrolledinahighschoolundertheCommon
CoreStandard.IfthesekidsaretaughtbasedonthesameCommonCoreStandardsthatmyhigh
schoolisusing,thestudentswillnotlearnanythinginclass,sincetheydonotevenhaveagood
foundationofmathknowledgeandtheyhavetoalsoovercometheirlanguagebarriers.Inmy
opinion,mathcurriculumshouldbedesignedaccordingtodifferentstudentsneeds.Yongstates
inhisarticle,thevastmajorityofpeopleinourcountryhavealowmathselfconceptmany
almostseeitasabadgeofhonortobebadatmath(Yong).Thesekidscandevelopalowself

conceptinmathbecauseoftheirinabilitytofollowthestatewisedcurriculum.Itwillmakethem
becomedisinterestedinmath,performpoorlyduringexaminationsandfallintothelabelof
beingbadatmath.InmanypartsoftheUnitedStates,schoolshaveopenedupspecial
bilingualclassesforELLstudentswheretheycanstudydifferentsubjectswiththeirfirst
languageforthefirsthalfofanacademicyear,andcontinuetheirstudyingwiththeregular
classesinEnglishforthesecondhalf.Ithinkwecanimplementthisideaontothemath
educationofAmericadesigningnewcurriculumbasedonthebilingualkidsownlanguageand
theirmathematicalreasoningability.Thiswillhelpthemadjusttothenewenvironmentandhelp
thembuildastrongmathfoundation.
Interestingly,MassachusettsisoneofthefewstatesinAmericathatdoesnotallow
bilingualeducation.Manypeoplethoughtthatbilingualeducationisexpensive,anditcould
discouragethebilingualstudentstobelabeled"poor"or"uneducated."Someopponentstothe
ideastatesthat"itallowsminoritylanguagespeakerstoresistassimilationandavoidlearningthe
dominantlanguage."(umich.edu)Yet,afterdoinganexperimentonbilingualstudents'response
tomathproblemsinboththeirnativeandtheirsecondlanguage,Dr.WichafromUniversityof
Texasconcludes,"thelanguageinwhichyoulearnmathematicalconceptsisthelanguagein
whichthoseconceptsarebetterremembered...it(was)hardwiredinthebraininthelanguageit
waslearned"(Turmiel).Eventhoughmathematicsmightseemtobeaboutnumbersandgraphs,
thelanguageitusesstillcouldbechallengingforanELLstudent.Forexample,amathproblem
maysay,"Letf(x)bethefunctionthatdefinethesolutiontothecurveonthegraph."Thisisnot
howwenormallyspeakinoureverydaylife.AsanELLstudentmyself,ittookmesometime
beforeIcouldentirelyadjusttothewaymathproblemsarewordedinEnglish.SoIthinkthe

bestwayforbilingualstudentstolearnmathisthroughabilingualmathematicsprogram
speciallydesignedforthem.

WorkCited
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n.d.Web.01Feb.2015.
CuocoAl,GoldenbergEPaulandMarkJune
HABITSOFMIND:ANORGANIZING
PRINCIPLEFORMATHEMATICSCURRICULUM(n.d.):n.pag.Web.
Hacker,Andrew."IsAlgebraNecessary?"TheNewYorkTimes.TheNewYorkTimes,28July
2012.Web.01Feb.2015."
"MathematicsandtheBilingualBrain."
MathematicsandtheBilingualBrain
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"MathematicsStandards."MathematicsStandards.N.p.,n.d.Web.02Feb.2015.
Yong,Darryl.MathProfessorTeachesHighSchoolClasses(DarrylYong)."LarryCubanon
SchoolReformandClassroomPractice.N.p.,14Nov.2012.Web.02Feb.2015.