The Price of Mathophobia

Johnny doesn't add very well. According to results of a major survey of math instruction in twelve nations* released last week, the U.S. is startlingly remiss in teaching its children how to add, subtract or solve calculus problems. Despite U.S. prestige as the world's leading technological power, American 13-year-olds ranked a low eleventh in their understanding of math--outscoring only children from Sweden, and lagging well behind those from Japan.

The math study, conducted by the International Project for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement with the help of UNESCO, was easily the most massive comparative study of schools ever undertaken. The researchers, who included a five-man U.S. team headed by Education Professor Benjamin Bloom of the University of Chicago, carefully framed questions so that they would not favor the students of any one nation. The tests were given to 132,775 students in 5,348 schools during 1964.

Critical Index. The main testing was done among 13-year-olds, since this is the age at which the twelve nations still have most of their children in academic schools (after this age, some channel many of their students into vocational training). The results show a startling gap between Japan and the U.S. Japan placed 76% of its 13-year-olds in the upper half of international testing, compared with 43% in the U.S. A strong 31% of the Japanese ranked in the upper tenth percentile, compared with only 4% of the Americans. The top tenth, claim the researchers, is "a very critical index, since it is likely to be the source of national mathematics and science talent." Students in their last year of secondary school also were tested: the U.S. finished at the very bottom, while Japan was near the top.

The tests also undermined the conviction of American education that better teaching lies in smaller classes. The average class size for 13-year-olds in Japan is 41, compared with 29 in the U.S. Family background was found to be a major influence on test scores, but Japan is so far ahead of the U.S. that even the sons of unskilled workers scored higher than U.S. children whose fathers are college-trained professionals.

Accurate Rating. The researchers did not offer any conclusive explanation why some nations performed better than others. But one clue seems to be that students who showed greater interest performed better. U.S. students indicated a more negative attitude toward math than most others: the Japanese were the most positive. "Americans," contends M.I.T.'s curriculum reformer, Dr. Jerrold Zacharias, "have matho-phobia." They are "scared to death" of math, he says, because most teachers are afraid of it themselves and fail "to make it exciting."

U.S. experts on mathematics teaching admit that the survey is an accurate rating of American nonproficiency. James Gates, executive secretary of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, candidly concedes that "our teachers--particularly those in elementary schools--are not well prepared to teach mathematics." Professor Richard D. Schafer, deputy head of M.I.T.'s math department, blames the teachers' colleges. "Instead of being taught math," he says, "the new teachers are taught how to stand in front of a class." Harvard Mathematics Chairman Andrew M. Gleason sees a need for the spread of "new math" to more schools. The survey showed that students in such classes performed better than those who took traditional forms of math instruction.

* Australia, Belgium, England, Finland, France, Israel, Japan, The Netherlands, Scotland, Sweden, the U.S., West Germany.

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