(Continuing the thread on America’s lack of mathematical prowess today)

A frightening number of teachers and administrators have told me that today students need a different, new kind of education. They need to be taught “retrieval skills” so they can access information.

One administrator said to me, “just give them calculators” when I was discussing the fact that my students could not do a number of basic mathematical operations. Many were arriving in middle school unable to divide double-digit numbers.

American education has gotten lost — lost and lazy.

Can I find the answer to the following problem online?

37 – 12x + 7 – 4x = 115

I can probably find that answer quickly. A kindly math geek will bail me out on some answers site. Or I could text my cousin who loves math and get the answer in just a minute or two.

Do I understand variables any better than I did before? Quite possibly not. With luck, my cousin will explain her reasoning and show me how she got her answer.

As far as the calculators go, I have no problem with students who can divide using their calculators as a shortcut to get division answers. The dividing itself only matters insofar as it represents a mathematical concept, one that will be needed later in many different forms for many disparate calculations. In simple terms, more complex mathematics will be filled with situations where students will need to break down an equation into smaller pieces in order to reorganize those pieces and change their form to get a targeted result.

Eduhonesty: Except for specific computer programs designed to practice and drill math skills, mathematics should be learned offline. Retrieval not only does not serve our students’ mathematical needs, that retrieval can prevent learning — especially when the emphasis in class is placed on grades rather than mastery.