Truly learning math makes wise thinkers

[Ka hrnt]

5. Understanding and comprehension are victims of the testing culture.

I was shocked last year in my algebra II class how so many students could use "graphic organizers" to get answers--but had absolutely no idea what was going on "behind the scenes." The clearest example of this was in FOILing. Some of those poor kids could get the right answer, but given a simpler problem involving a distribution, were completely lost. Sometimes I feel some of their teachers are teaching them not math but how to solve math problems. But when all that matters to the school district (money) and when your job depends on test scores, showing kids how to pass the ****ed tests is all that will matter...