Do NOT Buy a Car

Priscilla,

Parallels drive me crazy.

If you were going to buy a new car, would you not carefully examine the models that you found likely to fill the bill?

Giving a huge weight to reliability based on Consumer Reports reliability rating and perhaps to J.D. Power's initial quality report.

Of course you would NOT do that you are an Educator.

You would imagine what the ideal car would be like based on smell, visual appearance, weight, load capacity, fuel mileage, politically correct country of manufacture, etc etc

You would put together a committee of people who only ride buses and bicycles and are without drivers licenses to help you refine your criteria. Then once the created and approved criteria produced by the automotive ignorant were finalized, an enormous panel of folks which actually had a few individuals that new a bit about cars on it would be convened.

Those who knew about cars were aghast at the criteria, but it did not matter as they were hardly noticeable with the size of the committee doing the ratings.


When finished although many had hoped for a Prius while others a Ferrari Testarosa it was agreed that a Kevlar Ox-Cart best matched the criteria. Now you the educator will drive it. While everyone else goes home and about their normal lives.

If you find this method of vehicle selection objectionable, why keep buying it for textbook decision making?

Suggestion: Check the relevant data this does NOT work for either cars or textbooks.

If you wish to produce positive results check out the reliable stuff that works and use it. The 2004 MSSG says so. Of course how we would determine that in today's climate -- well probably not allowed.

Me, I would use the top performing math curriculum in the English speaking world which even works for ELL and learn to use it.

My God the Israelis translated it into Hebrew, but we like Everyday Math because it smells better.

What a country!!!!

It is time for the Math teachers to discredit this entire process, not by selecting the best books, but by resigning.

Resigning and applying for jobs in the district, state, and national education offices. There is NO accountability for anything having to do with math or science at that level, but even better is the fact you can then base the pathetic performance on the math teachers need for more training. For goodness sakes do not blame it on the teachers lack of content knowledge because in your new position it is required you know absolute zero about math content.

We now have in place a system that expands the number of jobs for those who know nothing about math and has been continually enlarged over the last decade creating more and more math-decision making positions for the math illiterate.

W. Edward Demings said: if you can remove it and it has no detrimental effect on the production process, then do so. Here is something begging for removal that will actually enhance the production process with its removal.

Alas we are unable to see the obvious because we've been conditioned to keep eyes closed and blindly feel about for solutions.

The magic bullet is out there just keep feeling about for it. Good luck with that plan but it is the only plan given credence in this world of make believe.

Dan