New Math in Oklahoma Public Schools

Some years ago as I worked as an educator where I came face to face with that disaster of English language instruction known as “whole language.” I witnessed for myself how whole language, under the rubric of reform, failed to deliver on its promises. I cared too much for my own children to subject them to this educational fad, however, so after leaving the teaching profession I taught them both using a well-known phonics program. Their success has been stellar, and they entered private school at accelerated reading levels.

This year, however, I enrolled one of my children in a public school in Tulsa. To my surprise I discovered that whole language had its analogue in mathematics, a fad known as “reform mathematics.” Like whole language, it claimed to develop “critical thinking skills” while eschewing “rote learning.” In the end, however, my son came home complaining that he was continually being confused by math instruction at school. I am, once again, forced to teach him myself, this time in the realm of math instruction with traditional curriculum.

It’s time that public schools quit gambling with the latest pedagogical fads, a trend that gives new meaning to the term education lottery.