I taught for 15 years in the public school system. I was forced to be a guide rather than a teacher. My students were expected to “discover” concepts like the Pythagorean Theorem. I could not take it any longer. I now teach basic math at Job Corps. All of my students take the TABE when they first come on center. If they score at a 9th grade level they move into GED classes. If not they come to my class. I teach basic math skills: multiplying and dividing whole numbers, fractions, decimals and integers along with teaching my students the basics of dealing with percentages. I routinely see multiple grade level jumps in virtually all of my students within the first three months of instruction. If public schools would get rid of the nonsensical way they try to teach math our public schools could see the same results. Our children are being short-changed because many teachers do not like math. I should probably not be writing this because if public schools adopted a common-sense approach to teaching math I would probably be out of a job! There would be no need for Job Corps if the public schools were not so inept.
