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Comment by g9yuayon | Hacker News Reader

Is this a US thing? Why would people still think that math is about numbers? Math is about patterns, which got drilled into us by our teachers in primary school. I really don't understand how US education system can fuck up so badly on fundamental subject like math.

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It is a US thing. And it's because until middle school (age 11-13) your teacher is likely not that familiar with math (they have taken math courses, but likely little formal math beyond geometry and trigonometry, perhaps some courses on math pedagogy). So for them, math is all about the numbers, they barely got to the more abstract concepts.

In middle school in the US you start getting teachers specialized in their teaching subject matter, but often tangentially. Any one with enough college math credits can teach middle school math (with some other certifications, usually). High school you may, finally, get a math teacher who is a mathematician. If you're lucky.

What kind of education is required from teachers in US? In Poland it is Bachelor's degree in relevant topic (for elementary and middle school) or Master's degree (for high schools) plus a course in pedagogy. Most teachers however get Master's degree even if not required (they get salary increase for that). It is hard for me to imagine math teacher not good in match themselves.

For all grade levels a BS and certifications is all that's required in most of the US. Sometimes a specialized degree is required or helpful (this is regional) for certain areas. Like a degree in primary education may get you a job as a 1st grade teacher in some state where a degree in English wouldn't (because that degree, ostensibly, conveys the knowledge and ability to specifically help young students like identifying learning disabilities and modalities, or some roles bordering on social services like identifying psychological trauma). At the higher grades (starting at 6th grade or so in some areas, but more often just high school) a degree in the subject matter is preferred or required. But this can often be worked around by demonstrating capability (certification exams and classes) or having enough course work in the subject (like most STEM degree holders have enough math to qualify as a math educator).

The sibling commenter is right re: bachelors and certifications, but due to shortages in the US often teachers with no certification in a subject are teaching. See Table 2 in [1] and find that 70% of high school math teachers have a math major and 81% are certified, while 10% of public high school math teachers have neither a math major nor a certification in math.

[1] https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2015/2015814.pdf

I was taught multiplication by rote memorization of the tables. It didn't go well as I'm bad at rote memorization.

People ask me if they see the beauty in math when I'm complaining. I do, but I also see the other kids outside playing while I'm held back from recess until I can tell you what 7*8 equals. Fuck that so much.

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