Teaching math in the 21st century : an honest and critical look at math education from the inside, from the author of "Letters from John Dewey / Letters from Huck Finn"

This book takes place in the 21st century and a school district in California. Like many districts in the U.S., it is married to the groupthink-inspired conception known as 21st century learning. Those who have fallen under the spell of this idea believe that today?s students live in the digital world where any information can be Googled, and facts are not as important as ?learning how to learn?. It is a brave new world in which students must collaborate, be creative, work as a team and construct new meanings. In the world of 21st century learning, one prevailing belief is that procedures don?t stick; they are forgotten. Students are to be taught ?learning skills?, ?critical and higher order thinking? and ?habits of mind? in order to prepare for jobs that have not yet been created. In short, it is an educational orientation that I and others like me 1) do not believe in and 2) find ourselves immersed in. It was the underlying belief system in which I had to work during two long-term sub assignments which are the subject of the book you are about to read