HON. RON PAUL
OF TEXAS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, February 10, 2000
2000 Ron Paul 7:1
Mr. PAUL.
Mr. Speaker, I submit for the
RECORD and highly recommend to all of my
colleagues Bill Evers’ “Secretary Riley Reignites
the Math Wars,” which recently appeared
in the Weekly Standard. Mr. Evers’
provides an excellent overview of the controversy
created by the Department of Education’s
endorsement of ten “discovery-learning”
programs (also known as “new, new
math” or “fuzzy math”). Concerns have been
raised that “fuzzy math” de-emphasizes traditional
mathematics in favor of encouraging
children to “discover” math without the guidance
of a teacher. Under some “new, new
math” programs traditional teaching is discouraged
on the grounds that teachers may harm
a child’s self-esteem by, for example, correcting
a child’s “discovery” that 2+2 equals 5.
Obviously, this type of “education” diminishes
a child’s future prospects, after all, few employers
value high self-esteem more than the
ability to add!
2000 Ron Paul 7:2
Mr. Evers’ article points out that the federal
government has no constitutional authority to
dictate or even recommend to local schools
what type of mathematics curriculum they
should adopt. Instead, all curriculum decisions
are solely under the control of states, local
communities, teachers, and parents. I would
remind my colleagues that outrages like “new
math” did not infiltrate the classroom until the
federal government seized control of education,
allowing Washington-DC based bureaucrats
to use our children as guinea pigs
for their politically correct experiments.
2000 Ron Paul 7:3
The solution to America’s education crisis
lies in returning to the Constitution and restoring
parental control. In order to restore true
parental control of education, I have introduced
the Family Education Freedom Act (HR
935). This bill would give parents a $3,000 per
year tax credit for each child’s education related
expenses. Unlike other so-called “reform”
proposals, my bill would allow parents
considerably more freedom in determining
how to educate their children. It would also be
free of guidelines and restrictions that only dilute
the actual number of dollars spent directly
on a child.
2000 Ron Paul 7:4
The Family Education Freedom Act provides
parents with the means to make sure their
children are getting a quality education that
meets their child’s special needs. In conclusion,
Mr. Speaker, I remind my colleagues that
thirty years of centralized education have produced
nothing but failure and frustrated parents.
I, therefore, urge my colleagues to read
Mr. Evers’ article on the dangers of the federal
endorsement of “fuzzy math” and support my
efforts to improve education by giving dollars
and authority to parents, teachers and local
school districts by cosponsoring the Family
Education Freedom Act.
2000 Ron Paul 7:5
Williamson Evers is a research fellow at the
Hoover Institution, an adjunct professor of political
science at Santa Clara University, a research
fellow at the Independent Institute and
an adjunct fellow of the Ludwig Von Mises Institute.
Mr. Evers has served on the California
State Commission for the Establishment of
Academic Content and Performance Standards
and he is currently a member of the California
State Standardized Testing and Reporting
(STAR) assessment system’s Content Review
Panels for history and mathematics as
well as the Advisory Board of the Californian
History-Social Science Project. Mr. Evers is
the editor of What’s Gone Wrong in America’s
Classrooms (Hoover Institution Press, 1998).
Mr. Evers has been published in numerous
scholarly and popular periodicals, including the
New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the
Los Angeles Times, and the Christian Science
Monitor.
SECRETARY RILEY REIGNITES THE MATH WARS
(By Bill Evers)
BILL EVERS IS A RESEARCH FELLOW AT THE
HOOVER INSTITUTION AND A MEMBER OF HOOVER’S
KORET TASK FORCE ON K12 EDUCATION.
In early 1998, U.S. Secretary of Education
Richard W. Riley called for a “cease-fire” in
the math wars between the proponents of
solid content and the proponents of discovery-learning methods. He said he was
“very troubled” by “the increasing polarization
and fighting” about how and which
mathematics should be taught from kindergarten
through high school.
2000 Ron Paul 7:7
Despite this call for a cease-fire, the U.S.
Department of Education endorsed ten discovery-learning programs in October 1999.
This federal imprimatur should not be allowed
to disguise the fact that content (such
as dividing fractions and multiplying
multidigit numbers) is missing from these
federally approved programs and that there
is no good evidence that they are effective.
Discovery-learning math is often called by
its critics “fuzzy math” or “no-correct-answer
math.”
2000 Ron Paul 7:8
In response to the Department of Education,
about two hundred mathematicians
and scientists signed an open letter to Secretary
Riley, which was published in the
Washington Post on November 18, 1999 (see
letter at www.mathematicallycorrect.com/riley.htm.) The signers, who included Nobel
laureates and some of the country’s most
eminent mathematicians, didn’t like the Department
of Education’s new equation: Federal
Math=Fuzzy Math. The letter asked
Riley to withdraw the federal endorsements.
The news stories that followed got at the essence
of the debate.
2000 Ron Paul 7:9
Steve Leinward of the Connecticut Department
of Education was on the U.S. Department
of Education’s panel that picked the
math programs that would receive federal
approval. In an interview with the Chronicle
of Higher Education, Leinward defended the
approved programs as the least common denominator
— “a common core of math that
all students can master.”
2000 Ron Paul 7:10
Leinward is not saying that the federally
approved programs cover the material
taught in too-performing countries such as
Japan or Hungary or that the programs contain
complete coverage of elementary and
secondary school math. What he and his fellow
panelists want is a watered-down program
that all American students — as currently
trained — can master.
2000 Ron Paul 7:11
Mathematics professor David Klein of California
State University at Northridge is a
proponent of solid content. He is quoted in
the Chronicle of Higher Education as saying
that algebra is the key course for students,
the gateway to success in mathematics and
to success in college in general. Leinward
says that Klein’s algebra-for-all position is
elitist.
2000 Ron Paul 7:12
Here we have the central difference between
the two sides. The rigorous curriculum
side says that, like Japan, Taiwan,
and Singapore, we can have algebra for all,
preparing students for technical careers and
college-level work. The water-it-down side
says U.S. teachers and students aren’t capable
of teaching and learning algebra.
2000 Ron Paul 7:13
These federal recommendations are for
kindergarten through high school, which has
serious consequences. In essence, the U.S.
Department of Education, by making these
endorsements, is closing the gate on going to
college or even on technical blue-collar jobs
for many students. And it is closing that
gate as early as kindergarten.
Note:
2000 Ron Paul 7:1
Mr. Evers’ provides probably should not have an apostrophe:
Mr. Evers provides.
