Algebra, my first love

First off, I would like to apologize for my last post. It sucked, and wasn't up to par with the rest of my writings, at least in my eyes. However, I do have an explanation.

The title to last weeks blog was "Moments". That night I really wanted to blog, but since the power was out I couldn't. In that moment I had a lot to say, and I felt one way. Anyways, time passed, and the power came back on. I could now blog. But, the moment had passed, and I didn't feel like blogging anymore. I blogged anyways, and it ended up a shoddy wreck. The moral of the story is, sometimes people feel one way, but those feelings change.

Now, on to the fun stuff.

Kids these days don't know how to problem solve. It's as simple as that. It is very difficult to teach a kid how to problem solve in school. Schools are pretty much governed by the state curriculum and the standardized tests. You are required to pass the tests, and in order to do that you have to teach the curriculum. Unfortunately, you can't put problem solving in the state curriculum. Every student needs to learn how to do that in a different way. School is great, except that they're churning out a generation of kids who cannot solve problems.

Why can't kids solve problems? I know that some of them can, because I've met them. I like to think that I am one of those kids that is able to solve problems. But why are a lot of the people I associate with incapable of solving problems? I think it's because they have been babied through the school system.

This whole digital revolution is partly to blame. In kindergarten, the computer illiterate teacher took you down to the lab, and taught you how to sign in. You had to type in your last name, then the first letter of your first name, and then hit enter. Then, you had to go to the 3rd picture, and click on it. There were about 45 pictures on the screen, but those were forbidden. Click on the 3rd one, thats the one you want.

Do you remember that? I sure do. I was afraid to click on any of the other pictures. The teacher said click on the 3rd one, she knew what she was talking about right? Any of the other ones would do something I didn't want it to do and get me in trouble. We learned from a very early age to simply follow instructions when we're near a computer in a school. It's easier that way. It's easier to tell 40 5 year olds exactly what to do than it is to teach them how to find out what to do.

And now, 10 years later, we're stuck with those problems. Kyle sits down at a computer, and waits for instructions. He doesn't read the text, and follow the trail the computer gives him to find his destination. He waits to be told. That's the way its been since kindergarten, thats the way it will be for ages to come. Because teachers weren't confident enough to teach us how to use a computer, they simply told us how to get to where they wanted us to go. We all got into SRA Math just fine thank you. Too bad we didn't learn anything on the way.

This problem has repeated itself for ages, and not just in the computer side of schools. In algebra, does a teacher tell you the formula to get an answer, or does she tell you how to figure out the formula? Hopefully she does both, but more often than not I believe that you are given the formula and told to go on blind faith. This is a difficult task for many students who don't do too well on blind faith. Algebra, computers, biology, journalism, whatever. The problem is the same.

We as teachers are too lazy to do things the hard way. I say we because I fell into the same trap. Last year I was assigned to teach pretty much all the students how to use that Nero slide show program. I failed my task. It was infinitely faster for me to do it myself. Teaching them how to do it would have taken ages and ages, and wouldn't have produced a product nearly as good as mine. It was faster and easier to do it for them, so that's what I did.

I sincerely regret that now, because I helped perpetuate the problem. I did it for them, like too many teachers have done. Instead of letting them discover it, I did it the fast way.

This is why students can't problem solve today. We are unwilling to see them fail in order to grasp the concept. Its much more pleasant to see a kindergärtner skip right to the right program on the old school IBM than it is to see him get into the wrong program, then have to find his way out, then back to the right one. That takes valuable time that he could have used learning math.

So, which is more important in the end? 5 minutes spent learning math, or 5 minutes spent learning how to solve problems? I'm going to have to say 5 minutes learning how to solve problems.

So, that's my challenge to all of you today. Let them fail. It will be more beneficial for them to be frustrated for 40 minutes trying to plug all the right cords into the right holes on their computer than it will be for you to do it for them. I complain so much about computer illiterate people, but I helped create the monster.

I know algebra because Jamieson taught it to me, and I had to work with the problems in visual basic to make snake and frogger work. I had to problem solve. I had to figure out how to get the right side of that box + 140 pixels to be greater than the left side of the frog - the width of the frog. I know it because I had to figure it out. Had someone told me how to do it, I wouldn't know it today. We have to learn how to problem solve on our own, but in order to do that our teachers have to allow us to fail first. I'm not saying we must be a failure in order to be a success, I'm saying that we need to be allowed the opportunity to make a wrong decision. So what if the kindergärtner gets into the wrong program? He can always escape and go back to the main menu. Let him do it, it builds character.

So, that's my rant of the day. People, learn how to problem solve, and allow others the same opportunity If I could find a girl that could plug a computer in right, figure out how to make messenger not sign in automatically, play Mannheim steamroller songs on the piano, that's cute and modest, I'd sure be happy. If you meet the criteria listed above, applications are available at the front office, thank you.