Erlwanger's main point in the article about Benny was that IPI was failing to teach Benny correct math principles and not only that was impeding Benny's future understanding and enjoyment of mathematics. In the opening paragraphs Erlwanger emphasizes the weakness that are in IPI. He talks about the how IPI weakness stems from how it is taught. Elwanger goes on in the article to mention more then once that in the IPI system the teacher is removed from the his or her role as a guide to students leaning mathematics. Erlwanger feels this is a mistake and almost puts the student and teacher at opposition. The student like Benny gets frustrated at the teacher for only ever following a key of answers. Erlwanger also mentions that Benny learned incorrect math principles from going through the IPI program. Benny made his own reasoning for how math works because there was nobody in the IPI program to tell him differently. As long as his answers were right, he got to move on in the program. Erlwanger felt that the IPI program was important step in education understanding but ultimately fails to teach children mathematics.
One of the most important things Erlwanger taught was importance of the teacher. The IPI program was designed to remove the teacher from the teaching process, and Erlwanger showed that this was a mistake. This is very applicable today because teachers have a huge influence on students attitudes toured subjects, especially math. In my experience, I used to really like chemistry, but I had a horrible teacher a few years ago and it completely ruined the whole subject for me. I still have a bitter taste in my mouth from that class and its subject. On the other hand. I have had great teachers in math that have helped me see the beauty of mathematics.
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You did a very nice job at applying the importance of teachers to your own life. It was nice to hear about your own personal experience with teachers and either the positive or negative influence they have had on your attitude towards to the subject matter. It is clear from your experience that teachers play a very influential role in their students' perspectives and lives.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if teachers have more than just a influence on students' attitudes towards different subjects. I feel the teacher plays a significant role in whether the student learns the subject material or not. It is clear that from Benny's experience with IPI that he learned many incorrect principles that hopefully a teacher would have noticed and corrected.
I agree with you that Erlwanger's main point is that IPI is harmful. I think that you did a nice job of identifying some of the arguments that Erlwanger made to support this claim. I was also disturbed by the almost adversarial relationship between the teacher and student.
ReplyDeleteWhile I saw many strengths in Paragraph 1, sometimes I wasn't clear about the points you were making. For example, the second sentence mentions weaknesses in IPI. Unfortunately, there is no description of what these weaknesses are, and so I'm left wondering what weaknesses you are referring to. Also, there were many typos in the entry. It would be better if you carefully proofread your entry before publishing it.
I really found what you said to be very clear to me. I understood the main point you chose and agree completely. I thought you gave very good examples in your first paragraph that showed how his main point was how the IPI system was failing to teach Benny what he needed to know about math. I also thought that your second paragraph had good points and examples, especially your example with the chemistry teacher. Yet, though the importance of teachers in the children's life was talked about in your first paragraph, I sort of thought you changed your main point. Yet, I agree with all you had to say.
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