Math In America Essay

We have had extensive professional development regarding math achievement in the United States at Saucier Elementary. Dr. Terry Burnham has led all of the professional development meetings. During these meetings, we have analyzed TIMMS and PISA data over the past several years. The data always shows how far the U.S. lags behind other countries in mathematics. A TIMSS study shows 54% of math problems in Japan emphasized making connections to many math concepts, while 17 % were shown in the U.S. Our textbook pointed out that two-thirds of the problems in the U.S. emphasized procedural skills. Japanese teachers required students to discuss solutions to make connections when difficult problems were encountered. None of the American

However, math is taught differently across the world. In Britain, nearly half of the 17 million working population have math skills of an elementary school child. They have a much more laid back society with regards to career choices than many other countries have. In many other countries, math homework centers on math problems that students persevere through, where as in America, the math homework centers on reading about math skills. Many teachers in other countries have degrees in mathematics, where most American teachers don’t have mathematics degrees. In Britain, they had nearly 6,000 students that graduated with mathematics degrees in 2009. That’s 0.009% of the British population being certified mathematicians. Compared to 0.05% of the population in India having mathematics degrees. India, as opposed to America, is another country to encourages true math problems, rather than reading topics sparingly containing math problems. And then there is China. Education in China is rigorous starting at an early age. Young children grow up with high expectations that shape their learning. American education doesn’t compare to Chinese education. Parents in China demand children value education at an early age. I don’t believe that most American parents do that to their children. I believe that the majority of American parents are weak with regards to attending to the educational learning of their