Miss Anne's Adventures as a Kumon Instructor

When I read this "opinion" letter in the Albuquerque Journal, I truly thought I misunderstood what the author was trying to say. So I read it again. And then, one more time. THEN, I tore it out of the paper and showed it to my husband, because I still couldn't believe someone had written these words!!! Read it for yourself... But make sure you are sitting down :-)

Friday, February 05, 2010 - Albuquerque Journal

There's a Simple Reason Why Math Education Doesn't Add Up

I didn't like math when it was first presented to me well over half-a-century ago, and I still don't. And there is a very simple, non-scientific reason for it.

Numbers are boring. They have no intrinsic meaning. (Whatever meaning they do have usually tells you something you don't want to know, like what is lacking in your checkbook.)

Think about it. You can take a set of numbers, scramble them around in any order you want, even add in some letters for good measure (usually "x" and "y") and still — you don't have anything interesting.

But letters — that is another matter altogether.

You put letters in a certain order, and voila! You get words! Words have meaning! Words can be placed in an infinite number of combinations and you get stories, even literature. Stories can you make you laugh, or cry, and most importantly, for students, they can make you want to keep turning pages to see what happens next.

I cannot recall a single instance in my life when numbers have ever given me the desire to keep turning pages to see what happens next.

Why should this be such a difficult concept for educators to understand?

J.D.
Albuquerque