There’s an op-ed piece in today’s New York Times about the ineffectiveness of “fuzzy math” instruction:

One of the most infamous fads took root in the late 1980’s, when many schools moved away from traditional mathematics instruction, which required drills and problem solving. The new system, sometimes derided as “fuzzy math,” allowed children to wander through problems in a random way without ever learning basic multiplication or division. As a result, mastery of high-level math and science was unlikely. The new math curriculum was a mile wide and an inch deep, as the saying goes, touching on dozens of topics each year.

I was shocked about this time last year when I was substitute teaching for a few weeks at the level of math juniors and seniors were working on. “We did that in fourth grade,” was K’s response.

K, studying for a national licensing exam for the last few weeks, recently revealed that the math she was working was “fun.” Matrices and such. “When did you learn that?” I asked, fearful of how her response might indict American education.

“Well, we started learning about it in primary school.” Around seventh grade (at the time, primary school in Polska was K-8).

Now some American educators are aiming for algebra by the seventh grade:

Under the new (old) plan, students will once again move through the basics — addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and so on — building the skills that are meant to prepare them for algebra by seventh grade. This new approach is being seen as an attempt to emulate countries like Singapore, which ranks at the top internationally in math.

The question is, what are students in Singapore studying in seventh grade math? I’d be willing to bet that, like in Poland, they’ve left algebra far behind by seventh grade.

The answer to catching up with some parts of the world in the education level of our schools lies not only in curriculum changes – rearranging deck chairs in the oft-used cliche. The answer depends, in part, on more educational time: a longer school day and a longer school year.