The North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 57, No. 38, Ed. 1 Wednesday, November 7, 1973 Page: 2 of 6
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PA0K 2—THK NORTH TEXAS DAILY
m
Wednesday. November 7,1973
New Math Flunks?
Teachers Lack Understanding/
Fail To Emphasize Old Skills
By CAROLE BURG
Daily Reporter
New math may not be getting an F yet,
but it certainly is in the C or D category.
New math in the public schools is not
working as well as it should because teach-
ers are failing to teach it properly. At least
that is the view of many education faculty
members.
"Many math teacher:; in the public
schools don’t fully understand the implica-
tions of new math and are not able to ex-
plain the principles involved to their stu-
dents," Dr. Jack Cross, chairman of the
secondary education department, said.
WHEREAS “old math” emphasized
drill, practice and memory, new math meth-
ods are more concerned with reasoning
skills, implications and applications—“The
way we do it,” Dr. Cross said.
However, the old methods haven’t been
thrown out, he explained. “The only way
you can learn anything is with drill, prac-
tice and memory," he said. Teachers have
not realized this and as a result have placed
too little emphasis on the basic skills, Dr.
Cross said.
A lot of the misunderstanding about new
math on the part of parents was created by
the school systems, he said. When the new
program was introduced, many systems
felt they didn't have the time to inform
parents and said, in effect, “Keep your
hands off your children.” Parents thus re-
sented being left out and decided against
the method from the very beginning.
SCHOOLS ARE realizing now that
parents need to help their children and some
schools have organized evening sessions so
parents can become familiar with the new
math methods, Dr. Cross said. “This is a
good approach because parents are skepti-
Cross said. Regardless of the method used,
“Children will learn mathematics in spite
of the teacher.”
Associate Dean Howard Smith said
many school teachers do not feel comfort-
able with any kind of math and “they carry
over these feelings in teaching.” This atti-
tude, explained Dr. Smith, causes problems,
“and new math may be rejected because of
a psychological insecurity.”
BECAUSE many education students are
turned off by numbers, mathematics is a
subject that very few take for elective credit,
he said. Some teachers fight it and reject it.
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An Editorial
Greek Program
Should Set Limits
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following two editorials express differing opinions
about the Black Greeks United III show Saturday night.
People do not have the same skin color so they do not have to agree on
what is acceptable behavior.
It sounded like an easy way out of what could turn into a racial argument,
and so it was used. No one thought of the fact that someone was responsible
for allowing the mother —-ing chants and other abusive acts presented Sat-
urday at the Black Greeks United Ii I program.
President C.C. Nolen said that the North Texas groups represented at the
invitational program for Black Greeks from the Southwest “showed better
taste than some of the visiting groups.” Many people who attended the pro-
gram agreed with President Nolen. Like others, however, he went on to add
that his taste might be completely different from that of the rest of the au-
cal of anything new and tend to think it is
one of those wild-eyed liberal programs,”
he observed.
Textbooks are already in the process of
returning to more traditional mathematics
and incorporating principles of both the old
and the new, Dr. Cross said. "Unfortun-
ately, the thing that determines how and
what will be taught is the textbook rather
than specific skills and competency of the
teacher," he stated.
“I think new math has improved the
interest on the part of youngsters and has
created more student involvement,” Dr.
but a large number are gradually acquiring
some of the skills necessary to teach new
math, Dr. Smith said.
Achievement test scores of fourth grade
students show there is no advantage to the
new math over the old math, he said. How-
ever, this test is based on old math stan-
dards so it may not be a clear example of
failure of new math, he staled.
Dr. Smith does not feel that schools will
go back to the old math. “We always talk
about the ‘good old days’ but one reason we
have changed is that the old days were not
so good,” he said.
Dr. Lloyd Campbell, who teaches sec-
ondary education, maintained that it is the
teacher who makes the difference. “Content
is OK—the fault lies in the teacher as to the
way a student is taught," he said.
CONSUMER EDUCATION is vital in
today’s society, Dr. Campbell said, and
“you had better know how to use mathe-
matical skills.” If students cannot do the
things required to be consumers, then they
can be labeled failures, he said. “This is the
age of economics and one of the greatest
concerns is the use of practical data applica-
tions to daily life,” Dr. Campbell explained.
There has not been enough controlled re-
search comparing results of student per-
formance in new math versus old math, Dr.
Campbell said. “Critics are more vocal
now and criticisms may be valid because
no one has proved to most people's satisfac-
tion that the new math is the best program
that has been done,” he said.
A good middle ground combining ele-
ments of both new and old math would
probably be safe and effective, he said.
Since modern math is based on under-
standing, if the teacher himself thoroughly
understands it and displays patience, chil-
dren can be made to understand it, Dr.
George Willson, who teaches mathematics,
said.
DR. WILLSON emphasized the impor-
tance of reading ability in mathematics.
“One of the big hang ups in elementary
math is the written problem,” he said.
Solving is relatively easy for those children
who can write a math sentence, he explain-
ed. Poor readers tend to do badly in mathe-
matics, he said.
Of utmost importance, Dr. Willson said,
is flexibility of teachers. “You have to have
a variety of approaches since many roads
lead to the same place,” he said. Some
people need rote learning and some need
Scott Parks
reasoning, he stated. “Kids learn differently
but many teachers did not and do not
understand this.”
“I favor the new math because I myself
am more successful with it,” he said. How-
ever, “some people think we have gone
overboard on the understanding part of new
math and maybe we have,” he said. Because
it is typical to go too far, he said, “I do see
a swing back to the traditional and that may
be good.”
Some NTSU education students are hav-
ing difficulty learning the new math.
MRS. AMY SIMS, Dallas senior, said
she is finding it difficult because she has
never been exposed to new math before.
However, she said there are some students
in her class who are finding it difficult even
though they have had it before.
“It is going to make me appreciate as a
teacher the problems that children will have
when faced with it,” she said. Mrs. Sims
would like to see a combination of both
old and new math methods.
“I am confused,” said Mrs. Toni Hurl-
but, Richardson sophomore. "Math used
to be very easy for me and I was a better-
than-average math student in high school,"
she said. But even with a great deal of
studying she is having problems. "I am
worried about how my children are going
to come out with an understanding of
math,” she said. Mrs. Hurlbut is encourag-
ed that there is a trend back to traditional
methods.
Israel Garcia, Fort Worth graduate stu-
dent, said it is easy for him because he has
a good mathematics background. “How-
ever, the way it is being taught in some
classrooms makes it very difficult for many
students and many are having serious prob-
lems with it," he said. Garcia said the new
math approach is good because it allows a
student to be creative.
'V
/. '
Electorate Chooses McGovern•
Money, Military Unite in Coup
dience.
The presid;nt should have more faith in his opinion of what is perverted.
Several students, black and white, questioned about the public's acceptance
of the use of profane acts and words by all of the visiting fraternities who
performed at the program agreed that many of these were not necessary.
Among these students were Cheryl Appling, president of Alpha Kappa
Alpha, the sorority which sponsored the event, and Mike Simpson, Student
Government Association president.
Miss Appling said that the show did serve its purpose in bringing Black
Greeks together. There were a lot of older people and parents at the pro-
gram, however, who may have taken offense at the profanity used by visiting
fraternities, she added.
Simpson, who is a member of a white fraternity, said that the Black
Greeks showed some talent which could have helped individual fraternities’
unity but which may not have appealed to an outsider. He went on to suggest
that the visiting fraternities performed in a manner which might not be tol-
erated on their campuses.
North Texas Black Greeks represented themselves well at the annual pro-
gram except for their failure to set limits on the types of performances pre-
sented by visiting fraternities. Like any other campus organization that
sponsors campus events, the members of Alpha Kappa Alpha are responsi-
ble for the acts of the people they bring to campus for public performances.
PEGGY SMITH
Creativity Needs
Constant Review
Often many people are wary about whether a show or performance dis-
plays suggestive and erotic scenes of other people. Perhaps their tastes tell
them they could not or should not endure what they consider to be programs
of obscenity.
Some students, and perhaps some faculty members, said that the Black
Greek show was too suggestive and had abusive language not to their liking.
This assumption has a chance to really stand out when the campus and or
local area is basically conservative. And when an area is conservative, the
only ones who challenge the community attitudes and laws are those bold
enough to know what certain freedoms hold.
Many students like to applaud Hollywood movie directors and certain
printed media publications for their innovativeness, but seldom do they
realize that directors, in the process of making the movies, not only only
test existing laws but help the individual attain an awareness of what free-
doms he has in America.
Movies such as “Last Tango In Paris” and "Deep Throat” not only help
insure finer definitive laws but also they usher in changes in social attitudes.
If the Black Greeks show was too suggestive to some of its showgoers,
then probably films like “Deep Throat” and “Last Tango In Paris" are also
suggestive to the same group of people.
Creativity will always come under pressure from those who approve of the
current standards. The only way to test American freedoms of creativeness
is by those who will seek to know just what areas of freedoms they have and
not so much of what is believed to be allowed.
GEMERAL E. BERRY JR
The North Texas Daily
57th Year
North Texas State University
Denton, Texas
Southwastarn Journalism Congrass
Box 5297. NT Station Denton Texas 76203
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Telaphone 788 2353 or 788 2406
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Represented by National Educational Ad
vertising Services
Here is a scenario from the outer realm
of possibility.
It is 1972 and George McGovern has
just been elected President of these United
States. Riding atop a loose coalition of
liberal Democrats, students and socialist
splinter parties, McGovern eeked out a ten-
uous victory over Richard Nixon and a
healthy George Wallace, who badly split
the conservative vote.
McGovern, who actually emerges as the
FDR-type leftist that his opponents said he
was, alienates the corporate rich and the
military with programs designed to redis-
tribute wealth and vastly cut back defense
spending. Pushed further to the left by his
student-worker-liberal constituency, he
nationalizes the railroad and oil industries.
President McGovern, however, implements
no program that does not aid the plight of
the average inflation-fearing American.
BUT IN 1974, conservatives and reac-
tionaries are pushed to the brink of reason
by McGovern’s encroachments on vast
private wealth and property and his reduc-
tion of unbridled militarism.
The military Joint Chiefs of Staff, aided
financially by international hanking cartels
controlled by the Rockefellers, Du Ponts,
Nixons, Rebozos, el al, stage a bloody coup
that ends in the murder of President
McGovern. The officials reports say he
committed suicide. The repercussions are
great.
As the forces of the coup solidify, all it
takes for a citizen to qualify for a mass
grave is to have (a) voted for McGovern,
(b) voted for any liberal for Congress, (c)
be young, (d) be poor and work in a fac-
tory, and (e) stand up vocally or actively
against the coup.
THIS IS A far-fetched story, right? It’s
the remnants left over from a brain deluged
by drugs and alcohol, right? Well, maybe.
But what man two years ago would not have
been decried an idiot had he spouted theo-
ries of the President (or his closest advisers)
using CIA operatives and spies to insure his
victory in a political campaign? After all,
the chiding conservatives would have said
that no one would ever employ the CIA to
gather domestic intelligence. The l.iddy,
Hunt and McCord gang are for foreign
Come to Daddy
Harold Pearce (with mustache) caresses his pet boa constrictor named
Charity. Charity is approximately five feet long and Pearce hopes she will
grow longer on a diet of rats and mice that he buys at a pet store Pearce
even keeps a playmate for Charity He’s a tree boa named George How nice
intervention only. Our government insures
us of this security.
The Nixon-ITT faction of the govern-
ment did sponsor covert CIA operations
that were once relegated to forays behind
the iron curtain and all that. This same fac-
tion is also giving aid and support to a
government in South America that came to
ruthless power in the same fashion as the
men who overcame McGovern in the above
fantasy vignette. Our foreign policy towards
the military junta in Chile continues to be
amiable. It is disgusting.
Our government has funded, and is still
funding, the Chilean military murderers
over $18 million a year in military aid.
There is no telling how much the copper-
seeking multinational corporations such as
ITT, Lndicott and Anaconda paid to see
the death of Allende and for reopened invi-
tations to exploit Chile’s land and workers.
THIS $18 MILLION-pius is spent for
such things, according to Newsweek, as
lining up young factory workers and
machine-gunning them. It is spent to keep
hundreds of political refugees pitifully hud-
dled in the Venezuelan embassy in Santi-
ago. That tax money is being used in Chile
to burn books and arm junta soldiers sta-
tioned on every block on every street.
The junta is still executing supporters of
Allende for crimes such as possessing litera-
ture. Prisoners are still held in the soccer
stadium, herded like cattle from goal to
goal. And we help pay for it. You can read
the shallow coverage of the tragedy in Chile
in the newspapers.
The insane situation that exists now in
Chile is real. It can happen here.
Feedback
Angry Student Claims
Library Discriminates
Carol Paar, 1811 Maple, No. 9, Denton
Today I went to the Denton “Public"
Library to check out a book which I was
unable to get at both the NTSU Library
and the TWU Library.
I was disgusted at the discrimination
against students which is being practiced
there.
I was told that since I was a student
God forbid! I would have to leave a $5
deposit in order to check out a book. The
money would be returned when I returned
tire book. (There seemed to be some feeling
that I was going to hit the dirt as soon as I
obtained one of their rare editions.)
I was told that the "Board" wanted to
be sure that they "got their books back.”
To begin wilh, I don't have $5 to waste
checking a hook out of a PUBLIC library.
Second, I don’t intend to pay $5 to cheek
out a book which I could BUY three times
at the University Store.
The City of Denton is happy to see stu-
dents when they have money to spend al
the grocery stores and other places of busi-
ness. But it’s another tune when it’s time lor
students to take advantage of a PUBLIC
service, such as the library.
Yes, I am plenty mad. When I’m through
firing off here, I'm going to write to the
Denton City Council.
Something ought to be done about this
ridiculous practice.
Student Complains About
Favoritism to Football
Debby Bock, NTSU Senior
The following is a list of complaints that
I have become aware of concerning athle-
tics at our university.
I. On Sept 8, 1973, our soccor team
played a game against UT-Arlington at
Texas Stadium in Dallas. No dressing room
was provided for them even though the NT
football team has dressing room facilities
there. The soccer team was forced to use the
press room as their dressing room.
Moreover, after their victorious game
they were not allowed to use the North
Texas football team’s showers! Police were
guarding the entrances to see that this was
the case. The soccer team players were
forced to meet their dates hot, sweaty, and
ailh a less than fragrant odor! An embar-
rassing situation, not only for the team but
for the entire university. At least I and my
friends are horrified. UT-Arlington's soccer
team did not seem to have this problem.
And who paid for those security guards?
Me.
2. The soccer team is not allowed lo use
l outs Field for their games. It is the only
level field North Texas has.
3. The soccer team coaches are volunteer
(three years worth). They are not paid. The
soccer team receives only $900; the football
team receives $175,000. The soccer team
wins most of its games; the football team
does not, yet it receives the most publicity,
scholarships, money, etc.
4. In addition, the men’s tennis courts
are closed down during football games. The
reasoning is to support the team A maxi-
mum of 72 people could he using those
courts in one evening. In my opinion, this is
not the way to win team support.
These are problems within the field of
North Texas athletics which have come to
my attention. I expect that action lo correct
these problems, and others not mentioned,
will be taken immediately.
This letter will be handed to Ed D Rol-
lin Sininger, vice-president of student af-
fairs, M B A. Roy Busby, director of pub-
lic information office; B A John Hayden
Fry, director of athletics; W.A. Miller,
chairman of the Athletics Committee; the
North Texas Daily and the North Texas
State University soccer team.
1
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The North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 57, No. 38, Ed. 1 Wednesday, November 7, 1973, newspaper, November 7, 1973; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth723692/m1/2/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.