[burty1]

I have taught math at the high school level for 10 years...everything from Algebra I to Calculus...

Is he/are you serious with some of these comments?

"The educational establishment is EXTRAORDINARILY resistant to change. For
example, lectures became obsolete when the printing press was invented five
centuries ago, but they are still the primary instructional method."
Lecturing, as you call it, will NEVER be obsolete in math. Students need examples modeled by an expert (teacher), while the expert thinks aloud. The majority of students at the high school level cannot read a math textbook and get out of it what they need to get out of it...You obviously don't understand what it means to be a teacher...Teachers are constantly attending conferences/taking classes, along with self-evaluations, looking for ways to improve instruction and learning...

"Teachers and administrators are EXTREMELY opposed to anything that improves
performance or even allows it to be measured. The teachers’ unions were the
most vociferous opponents of the proficiency tests, and they absolutely
insist that teachers’ compensation should be based on non-performance
criteria. In fact, they have fought against nearly every attempt to improve
American students’ abysmal performance on tests of math, science, etc."
Boy oh boy...these comments get better and better...Teachers object to proficiency tests NOT because we fear being judged, but because we object to people at the state level telling us how/what should be taught when most of them have not been in the classroom in years. My school district (in Ohio) has been near the top of the state every year in proficiency scores. I am absolutely opposed to rewards based upon performance. Should the teachers in inner-city Cleveland be penalized when their scores are lower than mine (or should I be rewarded because my scores are higher)...It may be a good day for a teacher in that environment if everyone shows up to class on time and a fight doesn't break out...Now, before you say that sounds racist, I will ask: Have you ever been in a school environment like that? I have!!...and it's not pretty at times...To use a poker analogy, you have to play the cards you are dealt...sometimes the hand is not pretty. As far as our scores compared with foreign students' scores, I'm assuming you know that in many countries, kids are tracked into different paths at an early age. When American students' scores are compared with those students from a foreign country, they are VERY skewed...and the last I checked, the U.S. was doing pretty well in the global economy, so something must be working in our educational system...

"Textbooks are purchased by bureaucracies, and the decisions have almost
nothing to do with how well a book teaches. It is an extremely centralized
and politicized process, which is completely different from the way 2+2 has
sold books."
Do you have any idea how textbooks are purchased for classrooms??? We just purchased new math textbooks at my school 2 years ago. The process is this: We notify publishing companies that we are looking to purchase textbooks. We receive literally dozens or more textbooks from companies to browse. We sit down as a math department (no administration involved) and discuss each book individually...pros and cons...a group decision is made amongst educators (some with upwards of 35 years in the education system)

Very typical...everyone can coach/teach/do the job better from a distance than the people who are actually on the frontlines...

I took 13 math classes in college starting with Calculus 1...the hardest part of being a math teacher is 2 fold...talking/breaking it down into terms they can understand and being patient when they don't...

It's the teachers fault when students don't perform well...but when students do perform well it is because they are excellent students...

Teaching = A thankless job