The Math Myth: And Other STEM Delusions - Softcover

Hacker, Andrew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 162097391X ISBN 13: 9781620973912

Publisher: The New Press, 2018

Synopsis

The “lively” (Kirkus Reviews), provocative, much-talked-about book that challenges the mandate for all students to master a full menu of mathematics, from the bestselling author

When Andrew Hacker published an op-ed in the New York Times questioning the requirement of advanced mathematics in schools, it instantly became one of the paper’s most widely circulated articles. Why, he wondered, do we inflict algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and even calculus on all young Americans, regardless of their interests and aptitudes? In response to the controversy sparked by his ideas, Hacker fleshed out his arguments in The Math Myth, which Diane Ravitch has hailed as an “important book” that “demolishes some totally unrealistic policies that will prevent many students from ever receiving a high school diploma and leading useful lives.”

In a book Howard Gardner calls “important and timely—and a great read,” Hacker offers a bold examination of widely held assumptions about the Common Core curriculum, the frenzied emphasis on STEM, and the type of knowledge that is—and will be—needed for most jobs. A mathematics professor himself, Hacker, in this “direct and clear” (Kirkus Reviews) “worthwhile read” (National Book Review), honors mathematics as a calling and extols its glories and its goals—yet shows how mandating it for everyone not only prevents other talents from being developed, but acts as an irrational barrier to graduation and fulfilling careers.

About this title

About the Author

Andrew Hacker is the author of ten books, including The Math Myth: And Other STEM Delusions (The New Press) and the New York Times bestseller Two Nations. He teaches at Queens College and lives in New York City.

Review

Praise for The Math Myth:
"Not one to decelerate, at 86 [Hacker] is doing nothing less than taking on the mathosphere."
—New York Times Education Life

"In the meantime, it's probably a good idea to give students multiple math pathways toward high school and college graduation—some less challenging than others. If we don't, we'll be punishing kids for the failures of an entire system."
—Slate

"The Math Myth is a worthwhile read, even if you are among the educators who become apoplectic at the suggestion that students shouldn't have to grapple with polynomial functions."
—National Book Review

"Hacker's accessible arguments offer plenty to think about and should serve as a clarion call to students, parents, and educators who decry the one-size-fits-all approach to schooling."
—Publishers Weekly (starred)

"A lively argument against the assumption that if the United States is to stay competitive in a global economy, our students require advanced training in mathematics."
—Kirkus Reviews

"[I]mportant and timely—and a great read."
—Howard Gardner, Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and author of The Unschooled Mind

"Andrew Hacker exposes the inconvenient truth that the majority of college students will never need to use quadratic equations in their majors and even fewer will ever need them on the job. Hacker shows convincingly that our current math curriculum has become too much of a good thing—an artificial barrier to the deeper learning at the heart of true vocations."
—Anthony Carnevale, Director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce

"In a friendly and accessible style, Hacker. . . systematically demolishes every argument used to support the advanced-math-for-all position. His book is now my go-to resource on this topic."
—Alfie Kohn, author of Schooling Beyond Measure and The Homework Myth

"The Math Myth is an important book. Hacker demolishes some totally unrealistic policies that will prevent many students from ever receiving a high school diploma and leading useful lives."
—Diane Ravitch, author of Reign of Error and The Death and Life of the Great American School System

"I love every single word and idea. Andrew Hacker may make some enemies, but truth is truth!"
—Debora Meier, author of In Schools We Trust and The Power of Their Ideas

Praise for Mismatch:
"Few people writing today for a general audience can make more sense of numbers."
—The Wall Street Journal

Praise for Money:
"A political scientist doing with statistics what Fred Astaire did with hats, canes, and chairs...He doesn't crunch numbers, he makes them live and breathe."
—Newsweek

Praise for Two Nations:
"His insights into the racial wounds that refuse to close are searing, and urgently need to be addressed."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Witty at times and searingly direct."
—Publishers Weekly

Praise for Higher Education?:
"Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus have written a lucid, passionate and wide-ranging book on the state of American higher education."
—The New York Times

Edition details

• Publisher: The New Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 162097391X
• ISBN 13: 9781620973912
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 256