Math problem!

Little Johnny has 37 candies and wants to divide them evenly among his five buddies, leaving an equal number for himself. How many candies does each of the boys get?

Answer: Little Johnny hasn’t the faintest idea.

He and his friends take the “discovery” method of mathematics at school, where they don’t learn the answer but are taught techniques for getting to the answer someday.

So they don’t know much about division or fractions. Nor, for that matter, multiplication tables, adding and subtracting from columns of numbers or any of that other boring stuff.

Go figure.

If you don’t learn the fundamentals of math, you’re in over your head the moment you encounter algebra. And if you don’t master algebra, the door is barred to careers in engineering, science, medicine, IT, etc.

Math problem indeed!

I suppose you could get an English degree, but you’d have to learn how to spell. Although the way things are going these days, that may not be necessary.

This is not just idle speculation from the back-to-basics crowd. You know: those flinty fundamentalists who walked 10 miles to school uphill both ways in a snowstorm and liked it. Canadian math students have dropped out of the top 10 in international math scores. We’re number 13!

And in the latest round of tests, only 16 per cent of Canadian students scored at “high achieving levels”, compared to 30 per cent of Asian students.

That sound you hear? That’s Canada’s future going into the ditch on the road to progress.

Things are so bad even parents are starting to notice. The province of Alberta has drawn back from the “discovery” method after receiving a petition from more than 11,700 people who want their kids to be able to count. And Manitoba has reintroduced math drill back into the classroom, while trying to wean kids from kindergarten to grade 3 off calculators. Ontario is sticking to the discovery course. Why fix it if it doesn’t work in the first place?

Right now, you’re probably going: “Who needs math?” Well, you do. Every day: at work, on the family finances, trying to convert US gas prices to Canadian litres and dollars (which require advanced calculus), figuring out what to buy at the hardware store or how much to tip the waiter (although many restaurants are pleased to do the calculation for you).

You’re at the mercy of the bad old world unless you know how to figure, and for that you need multiplication tables or long division. And unless you do something and soon, your kids will suck at math even worse than you do.

Just think, if little Johnny knows how to divide, he’ll successfully divvy up the candies into lots of 6 with one left over. And he gets to keep that one. 

His friends can’t count, so they’ll never “discover” what he’s done.