Wednesday, September 14, 2005
!! September 12, 2005 link to the
Taos Discussion [36]
and strategy
for mathematics education renewal !!
Send comments to
psp**@ontologystream.com (remove the “*” to get a valid email address)
educational renewal
(Public letter) edited after deciding to not pursue an agenda having an entanglement to NMHU and the school system in and around Las Vegas New Mexico. ( We are just too busy, see [14] )
Dean, Arts and Sciences
New Mexico Highland University
Dean,
There are larger issues.
The Foundation's strategy is to teach the freshman how to cope with a history of poor instruction and poor curriculum. No one is disputing that the school system has not prepared most for college. But it is NOT the students who are at fault, nor even the teachers. The fault lies with the university.
I have materials on this at:
http://www.ontologystream.com/beads/QuestionOfAccess/AQA.htm
I do expect that my workshops [1] will start with students writing about how they feel in regards to arithmetic and algebra. I have already over 500 such papers from my over three decades of teaching experience.
No fee will be charged for classroom type sessions in a storefront close to campus. The students have already paid tuition. I will not charge them a second time. It would have been nice to arrange with you to conduct free tutorial sessions in a classroom. It would have been nice to be minimally compensated for my effort. But this is a small detail.
With your communication to me, you MAY be making this into something about Dr Turner's treatment. Yes, his situation, and the feelings of others in the faculty are important. His treatment is relevant. But this is not the core issue I wished to engage in. (The core issue because the treatment of Dr Turner, when Dr Turner was asked to send a letter to the Chair (Tahani) stating that Turner did not support any agenda that Dr Prueitt might develop.)
I can only, properly, assume that Dr Tahani has no interest in scheduling a talk on mathematics education reform and renewal. I am quite sure he has no interest in telling freshman students that an alternative pedagogy is available from across the street.
I did contact him and he made no response. There was no follow up to your request that he talk with me. He is on campus, and could have made a response but did not. This is his decision. The decision reflects his interests. His position is being well established by facts on the ground.
The point MAY BE that neither you nor him are interested in having this discussion. I am open to being shown to be incorrect on either matter.
I am making an investigation that will be made part of a book that has been under development for some years, about the entrenchment of universities. This is my right and I will do this as I see fit. It is a shame if there has to be a battle, but a battle can be reported on just a well as a professional collaboration. The battle may better reflect the entrenchment that is the root cause of the fifty year long crisis in American mathematics education.
The situation with Dr Turner is a detail. I wish him well, because I was personally impressed with this dedication and objectives.
I remind you that I am in no way bound by your policy. I state my intellectual position clearly and in the open.
No one should be unaware about what I intent to do.
I would like to know few things. How many students who enrolled in mathematics classes have already dropped out? Is the percentage already 20% even after only a few weeks? How many classes? Who is teaching these classes? What have been the complaints/compliments from students over the years in regards to each of these teachers? What are the opinions of the freshman students?
These things should not be the private knowledge of the university, or should they? Perhaps the public should ask this question.
Dr Paul Stephen Prueitt
[1] As of September 15, 2005, the Foundation is looking for a place and a means to bring students together. This might be in Taos and be small scale.