Divergent Reviewers on Teaching Mathematics to Nontraditional Inner City Students
By
9/18/2006
I once told a college algebra / trigonometry class at Gander Hill prison in Wilmington, DE that marking their papers made me sick. All eyes were in my direction as the class awaited my explanation for such a harsh assessment. I told them that it did not make any sense for such great talent to be here in this prison.
My Gander Hill prison teaching experience helped to kindle my resolve to seek teaching methods to help develop the mental capability of nontraditional students (people 25 years and up) because they are often the parents of the children in public education, and education offers options other than crime for upward mobility. I believe if we educate the parents we get the children because parents will help their own children versus hood’ children becoming victims of social promotion (public school teachers passing the students without seeing that they learn the course material).
During my tenure in end use research and technical
marketing for the E.I. DuPont De Nemours and Company Inc., I enjoyed writing
internal technical reports (quasi white papers) summarizing my research or prove
out efforts. This writing joy ported to my educational research quest, so I
wrote the book,
John Gregory of the
Gregory’s harsh assessment ran counterpoised to one appearing in the July 2006
Education Review. “Although
thoroughly grounded in the literature, this is an eminently practical,
well-written book that is worth the read. The right things need to be taught in
college algebra: the author discusses what makes things right to discuss,
pointing out that for unprepared student the topics should reach far back, as
they all too often do not. Problem solving at the board, rather than
memorization and regurgitation on a number of multiple-choice midterms, is in
order. The important things are best learned through hard work, and by
generating momentum in succeeding in using the materials.
“These things are not accomplished on the cheap, nor are they the skills and
knowledge which college math professors should focus on in traditional frosh
calculus classes and other classes for the math- capable. But they are the very
things necessary for the less math- abled, just the kind of students who
populate college algebra courses. They need a different kind of teaching and
faculty teaching them need a different kind of teaching style to optimize
student success. This book does an excellent job of explaining how to accomplish
this.” (
http://edrev.asu.edu/brief/july06.html )
I
was taken aback by the very high divergence in these book reviews. Hence, I
seriously questioned if Gregory had even read the book or perhaps he did not
appreciate works written from an African American slant for adults ranging in
age from 25 and up who come from inner city backgrounds. I felt incumbent to
write Gregory a letter offering my concerns with his review.
“I read your review of
Teaching College Algebra: Reversing the
Effects of Social Promotion from Mathematics Teacher Volume 100, Number 1 in
August 2006. Your review had me wondering if you only gave this book a
perfunctory look. You write, “The author uses the term nontraditional students
to refer to those African American and Hispanic students who may be inadequately
prepared for college mathematics or seem to lack self-confidence.”
This statement suggests that I have redefined the
concept of nontraditional students and
that is simply wrong.
“When I use a statement such as,
“Consequently, many of today’s inner-city
adults who were pushed through the ill-famed public schools lack basic literacy.
However, the natural ability is there and it only needs refining.
“Another statement that also captures that I am using a standard definition for
nontraditional students is, ‘What is suggested here is that the role of the
college professor will need to include mentoring to inner-city traditional and
nontraditional students and first generation college students while these
students are trying to acculturate the mainstream psyche. When it comes to
mathematics, the professor-mentor will need to understand how the student
learns.’
“The
book was written to three populations: college mathematics professors who are
having a difficult time teaching nontraditional college students coming from
poor quality inner city public schools, public school teachers who need
background enhancement for teaching assignments that they are presently
struggling to handle, and it is a quick course in algebra for people looking to
understand fundamental principles of algebra. I was surprised that a person of
your stature did not discern these marketing audiences for this work. I should
point out that many of the concepts in the book work very well with both
traditional and nontraditional students across a host of courses from basic
mathematics through differential calculus. I also get rated highly for my
mathematics teaching ability from students from many races and my student
dropout rates across all courses usually run very low. This book is underpinned
by classroom experience.
“I have written a national
column for newspapers across the nation for roughly thirty years, so I am
accustomed to hearing from readers who may disagree with my positions. I may
call readers’ attention to reassess their statements when their public
statements differ from what I know to be the facts; hence I am sharing my
concern over an incorrectness in your comments. I will share this note and your
review with the newspapers that carry my articles, so my readers also will
appreciate my concerns.”
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