I think you are right about the change thing, Ball from the U.K. situates
many of the neo-liberalism reforms in the U.S.and the U.K. as part of a
conservative restoration.
I know in Wisconsin these attacks are rather minimal or at least more on
the level of "debate" compared to Texas and California and other states.
The recent top down standard reforms failed to pass because of a
parent/teacher uprising with the Governor whining that we would now float
to the botton. There was a mock test and many parents realized their A or
B+ students would have to repeat a grade if the standards were passed.
What I continue to find interesting is the international comparisons
consistantly point to how we teach math (skill and drill) in the U.S is the
problem, but most solutions to the problem are more skill and drill or fact
based approaches.
Nate
----- Original Message -----
From: Linda Polin <lpolin who-is-at pepperdine.edu>
To: <xmca who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 1999 9:18 AM
Subject: Re: newnewwholemath
> What I find interesting is that so many of the anti-new math parent
groups
> turn out to be made up of middle class white folks who are engineers, etc
> and whose take on the whole thing is "hey, it worked for us, don't change
> it." It seems to be as much about change as anything really truly
> conceptual.
>
> A few years back I asked a grad student who is an asst super at a local
> district to bring in a tape from a recent board meeting at which one such
> parent type stands to argue against "all this cooperative group crap" by
> declaring its irrelevance, shouting that he's an engineer and he never
has
> to work in groups. (This is, btw, a district famous for its inability to
> pass bond measures.)
>
> It's a scary tape and I think I may have frightened some of my credential
> students.
>
> Linda P.
>
>