I'm a Stanford-educated computer scientist who has also studied K-12 mathematics teaching at San Jose State. What I learned shocked me.

California's math standards are among the worst in the nation. They emphasize the teaching of "content", or mathematical knowledge, which is the least valuable and least accessible part of mathematics. It's no wonder that most California kids fail in math, or do poorly enough to convince themselves that a career in math, science, engineering or teaching is not for them.

Instead of emphasizing content, we need a curriculum that emphasizes sense-making and problem solving. These are the skills that California companies are crying out for, and which prepare students for careers in engineering and science.

A good curriculum is available from The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (see www.nctm.org). California could transition to this curriculum at almost no cost. If we simply districts their choice of standards, many districts would start moving toward the better standards and California education would improve.

Amidst all the extremely important issues facing us, probably the most important is having an educated and able population. California is educating about 1/7th of the nation's children. Surely we owe them decent training in math, which they are currently neither getting, nor allowed to get.

As a parent of two young teens, the poor curriculum was consistent with the poor education my children have received in one of the best school districts in the state. The content is rammed down their throats quickly and amidst a lot of stress with no regard for learning. In nations that are ranked much higher in math education they study about ten topics a year. In our schools, they study 30 or more. Though many teachers can do better, the state standards don't let them.

If you would like to learn more about this, I'd be happy to talk to you, as well as refer you to an excellent professor who prepares math teachers, as well as other experts.

Randy Strauss
September, 2007