Excavations


... nothing is more essential to public interest than the preservation of public liberty.

- David Hume



Friday, March 29, 2013

Math Counts Too: The Semester System and the Demise of Core Curriculum

The Editor:[1]


I am writing to express serious concern with the semester system of education.  Based on an American model of education (not one to emulate), the semester system has been in Canadian high schools for many years now.  Unfortunately, it is also prevalent (though not universal) in the Coquitlam School district, yet high schools in Vancouver seem to have resisted it.  Proponents of the semester system argue that it has its “pros and cons”, but I contend that there are profound weaknesses to it – and that it is a central reason (speaking as a university educator) why the skill and motivation of first-year university students appear in decline, especially over the past two decades or so.

The semester system (taking longer classes in four-month units instead of on a school-year basis) is detrimental in several areas of study – particularly Mathematics, English, and other Language courses. The case for mathematics is clear: it requires skill and practice and reasoning. It teaches problem solving and so trains the mind to deal in terms of theory and concepts and with precision.  And it requires a memory fresh with rigorous, regular exercise.  Is it not odd that students might take math for four months, skip it for four months and then possibly take it eight months later, depending on the schedule of the student?  A whole year might have elapsed between courses, and students are expected to remember what they studied many months before, as if summer happens twice a year now.
 
The semester system is terrible for weak math students, and it is not fair to the minds of all students who should be required to think in mathematical terms on a regular basis (all school-year long), for their own benefit - and for the benefit of society (now perhaps I sound like a dinosaur).  A semester of mathematics means that an important foundational course is taught in 77-minute packages, as weary students also face the “law of diminishing returns” on their compressed hours in class, up from 44 minutes in Middle School.   In other words the semester system ignores the developmental stage of the students (especially grades 9 and 10), and it ignores the fact that cognitive ability is not all innate.  The mind requires habitual practice over time to learn, and this is the case for mathematics.  Another problem is that today’s technology dupes people into thinking that they can achieve in an instant; rather, learning requires sustained effort.

The semester system can also be bad for teaching.  Quality teaching requires a relationship between the teacher and the taught. Students often learn as much from an inspired teacher as they do from the course material.  The semester system is more content oriented, heavier on exams (both of which encourage passiveness), and it allows less space for the “instructors” themselves. (And God forbid if any student is absent for an extended period of time – as they get penalized twice as much).  The end result is that students can have even more teachers with less quality contact over the rhythm of time, giving them less opportunity to learn.
 
As core curriculum diminishes the number of course options multiply, and students are presented with a smorgasbord – a pattern that is repeated at the first-year university level, where students go about taking classes without proper mentorship.  Today’s education is about “consuming” courses, a take-what-you-want kind of approach.  The idea of the university is to offer students opportunity for a transformational experience, but this fails to happen (because incoming students are less and less prepared), which is linked to the semester system in our high schools nurturing a certain degree of inadequacy.  And in order to overcome a mathematical shortfall in our secondary system (yes, an under-consumption of sound reasoning), my son will be privately tutored in mathematics in the off months, even though he is already a very good in the subject.  This is regardless of whether or not he goes into the sciences at university (which is also not my area of expertise).  School District 43 can anticipate the final bill for my son’s “extracurricular” high school math, and I expect that our public authorities will repay the sum - with interest.






[1] This letter appeared on Wednesday March 23, 2013 in The Coquitlam NOW under the title “The semester system hurts high school students”.

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