Why can't our schools teach math?

Ask anyone with a degree in mathematics what they would do if they won the lottery and this is what you are likely to hear:

First the lottery is a tax on people who can't do math. But if they were to play and win, a surprising number of them would retire and take up second careers as elementary math teachers.

Of course, the dis-oriented author doesn't have statistical evidence of these results — only anecdotal evidence based on being himself a mathematics major and asking this question of others. Even so, it warrants an inquiry.

Why would math people dream of teaching elementary mathematics? Is it because of the elementary teachers who did so much to encourage us? Could it be that an elementary teacher first opened our eyes to the wonder of  mathematics and that started us on a path through school, university and into life beyond?

Unfortunately no, to a man, the mathematicians I have spoken to dream of teaching elementary school mathematics because their elementary math teachers were so uniformly bad. 

I was fortunate, I had many excellent teachers who had a lasting impact on my life. My children, who have at various times bee in Homeschool, private school or public schools have also had some truly great teachers. I look back at my high school, Math, French, Humanities and Language Arts teachers. They helped me to see the magic in their subject matter. I went on and graduated with a university degree in mathematics and I still dabble in French, History, Speech and writing. These teachers had a profound effect on my life and I am grateful.

Unfortunately there are few Mr. Hollands or Jaime Escalantes teaching math in our elementary schools. Middle school is often not much better. Few elementary teachers are math experts. Most are reading specialists yet they are the ones who provide the primary science and math education for almost all K-6 students. Very few schools have math specialists in K-6. Unfortunately, by the time students reach Middle School, they are already unprepared to learn any mathematics and pre-disposed to consider the subject geeky.

One of my wife's special gifts to our family is that she loves (and knows) children's books. She reads to the kids all the time, classics like Louisa May Alcott and various Caldecott Award Winners. She makes reading come alive for them and when they are old enough they can't keep their hands off of books. She has instilled in them a love of reading that will enrich them throughout their lives. I also know that there are teachers out there in public and private schools who do the same with their students,

Can you imagine an elementary teacher teaching reading and never having her class read books, or poems, or plays? The entire class would be on basic skills like phonics. Students would learn how to read but have no sense of awe at where reading could take them. Students would know how to read and form sentences, but never appreciate Horton Hears a Who or Stuart Little or even Where the Wild Things Are.

No one consciously teaches reading this way. But this is precisely how mathematics is usually taught in our nation's elementary schools. Students start by memorizing arithmetic facts and never really see how they can apply to anything in their lives.

The problem is that most elementary school teachers are simply not qualified to teach mathematics. I went to a university with a large college of education. To make some extra money, I tutored students who were taking Math for the Elementary Teacher. What I saw then was frightening. Many of these students could not do much more than basic arithmetic — even long division was difficult. When it came to anything remotely advances like number systems and bases or simple geometry — well, that's why they needed me.

These students were for the most part caring committed professionals. But they were being sent into the field unprepared for the task ahead of them. If we are serious about improving our children's math skills then we must demand competent mathematics instruction from the start.

I understand that not every child will become a mathematician but for those who could, the present system is a sure route to mediocrity — we can do better.