New York City, and many other school districts in the nation, remain chained to the “Everyday Math” classroom program despite its now notorious reputation for being “fuzzy” – failing to impart even basic math skills to students and stressing self-esteem above proficiency.
No wonder, as test results just released by the Program for International Student Assessment show, that American 15-year-olds post an average math score that is lower than the average in 23 of the 30 leading industrialized countries.
What else to expect, given the fuzzy-wuzzy “math problems” assigned in the nation’s classrooms? Here is a sample from a fifth-grade “Everyday Math” textbook:
A. If math were a color, it would be -, because -.
B. If it were a food, it would be -, because -.
C. If it were weather, it would be -, because -.
Michelle Malkin has noticed that this “dumbed-down, politically correct, euphemism-filled edu-folly” has been astutely billed as a University of Chicago program. On further notice one realizes that it springs from the university’s education department, not its mathematics department.
Responsible members of the distinguished mathematics faculty on this great campus, and their colleagues across the country, should come forward and disavow this corrupt pedagogy. Perhaps the many parents horrified by the ignorance that it is fostering in their children will join me in calling on them to do so.