None Dare Call It Scam — The Money Wasted In The Education Industry
Scam, ripoff, swindle, fraud, corruption — whatever — we (gullible, naïve, hoodwinked public) are being taken for a ride. Do you suppose if I called the additional $60 million Ontario has just dedicated to the discredited “discovery” Math approach a scam I might be sued ?
Let’s look at this another way. Maybe it’s not a scam at all. Maybe it’s MISSION ACCOMPLISHED ! What if the poor Math achievement scores are INTENDED, and this $60 M is just to make sure NO CHILD IS LEFT BEHIND. Each child MUST come to the solution that 2 + 2 = 5, AND SHOW YOUR WORK !
This is not so far-fetched!
Just this week in the US and going the rounds is an incredible expose that is either true statistical research or pure prank and hyperbole (or something in between). There are some very serious people whom I trust who are taking this thoughtfully (Thomas Sowell, Will Fitzhugh . . .). This site ZeroHedge.com is mostly about finance and trading and while some readers find the style conspiratorial others find it rather “sophisticated”. I’ll pull out some quotes that are credible and I do this in support of my above statements about Math and my view that outcomes and future projected even poorer Math outcomes may very well be intentional. This is about Reading but relevant to our Math discussion here.
“Department Of Education—Our Work Here Is Done
http://www.zerohedge.com/print/528426
“Sources: National Institute for Literacy, National Center for Adult Literacy, The Literacy Company, U.S. Census Bureau.
“- Illiteracy has become such a serious problem in our country that 44 million adults are now unable to read a simple story to their children.
“- 3 out of 4 people on welfare can’t read.
“- 50% of the unemployed between the ages of 16 and 21 cannot read well enough to be considered functionally literate.
“- 3 out of 5 people in American prisons can’t read.
“- To determine how many prison beds will be needed in future years, some states actually base part of their projection on how well current elementary students are performing on reading tests.
“All that’s needed now is a “Mission Accomplished” banner and this is yet another perfect example of the failure of government intervention.”
[posted on SQE re Math, and ECC, a listserve]