The Quick Fix: The Error of the New New Math

By Benjamin Wallace-Wells | Wednesday, January 13, 1999

This issue does not make the claim that the New New Math is entirely without merit. It stems from a series of worthy impulses: certainly students should have some fundamental understanding of what they are doing, certainly it is helpful for teachers to illustrate their lessons with examples from the real world, certainly students should learn from their peers.

This issue does, however, argue that the New New Math — fuzzy math and ethnomathematics — is too absolute in its rejection of traditional rubrics for teaching math. The political impulse behind the New New Math claims that there is little relevent objective reality to numbers, and so the 'right answer' is practically worthless. This is going too far; it means, as the plummeting test scores of school districts employing New New Math curricula have shown, that students simply don't learn Math.

Of course it is possible to make learning Math interesting without resorting to cheap tricks like the New New Math, but that possibility is dependent on improving the quality of America's teachers. In a recent test of fourth-graders, American school children placed behind every nation in the word, excepting only Cyprus and South Africa. Everytime a survey like this comes out, the nation panics. In a climate such as this, educational policy makers seem more likely to opt for the quick fix — 'innovative' and kooky theories like New New Math. In so doing, they are neglecting the long term solution — better training and development of school teachers.

The Quick Fix: The Error of the New New Math

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