American parents are sending their kids to 'Russian math' (2017)
1–10 of 558 posts
Re: American parents are sending their kids to 'Russian math' (2017)
#2we are one of those parents (in Bay Area) who send our kid to RSM (Russian School of Math). We are very happy with it so far (6yo completed her first year) and, most importantly, our daughter is very happy with it too. It is not simple rule memorization and counting, even for 6yo the problems they come up with are interesting enough so that the kid wants to solve them.
Re: American parents are sending their kids to 'Russian math' (2017)
#3we are one of those parents (in Bay Area) who send our kid to RSM (Russian School of Math). We are very happy with it so far (6yo completed her first year) and, most importantly, our daughter is very happy with it too. It is not simple rule memorization and counting, even for 6yo the problems they come up with are interesting enough so that the kid wants to solve them.
What does the curriculum look like that differs significantly from standard school? Also, is your child bored in school at all? I got ahead in math early on and remember being very bored in math classes until AP classes came around.
Re: American parents are sending their kids to 'Russian math' (2017)
#4By about 1/4th of the way through I wanted to just know what 'russian math' looked like. By Halfway it was pretty clear they weren't going to tell me. I skimmed the last half, nothing stood out.
What does "Russian Math" look like?
Re: American parents are sending their kids to 'Russian math' (2017)
#5By about 1/4th of the way through I wanted to just know what 'russian math' looked like. By Halfway it was pretty clear they weren't going to tell me. I skimmed the last half, nothing stood out. What does "Russian Math" look like?
[deleted]
Re: American parents are sending their kids to 'Russian math' (2017)
#6If the article is accurate, one Japanese equivalent of this, known as Kumon, is almost its polar opposite -- remembering my own experiences with it as a kid, it was very much about rote memorisation and doing the same sheet of arithmetic as quickly as possible. One of the exercises Kumon made kids do at the age of 5 is to simply place shuffled magnets with the numbers 1 to 100 in order on a 10x10 board.
I can't say that this approach really turned me onto maths: quite the opposite. Past a certain level, the Kumon teachers were essentially just marking from an answer book, without any understanding of the content themselves. They had zero interest (or perhaps ability) in conveying the beauty or applications of maths to the students.
The approach that made me love maths was one where I understood the intuition and purpose behind the methods, ideally enough to develop them from the bare minimum myself.
Re: American parents are sending their kids to 'Russian math' (2017)
#7My sister sent my niece to one, as even her 'private' middle school in Newton, MA, was just not strong enough. She did sign up my niece in every summer class she could, without overloading her. It was always my nieces' choice, and half the time she choose arts and half science. Now, my niece is able to do college entry level data science classes (she is about to become a Junior in HighSchool), and she actually likes it a lot.
American schools are too soft on science in general. I did grades 1-11 in Albania and my senior year of HighSchool in the US. Some of my schooling in Albania was done under communism, and some after communism fell in the 90s.
The Albanian school was brutal in teaching science. Biology started at 5th grade, pre-Algebra at 5, and full blown Algebra at 6, physics at 6, and Chemistry at 7. Then in highschool you did the same, but more advanced. There was no choice at all, you had to do them all. The only choice in HS was a second foreign language. The whole idea was that you have to know all the basics of ALL sciences, so in college you know what to choose and pursue. If you never tried, you will have no clue if you liked something or not. (also basic music knowledge, sheet reading, and arts was a requirement as well).
When I came to the US, I was flabergasted how behind most of the kids were in science. I took AP physics, and it became boring as it was things I had done in 8th grade. I got 800./800 on the SAT 2, physics.
The math part, I took AP calc, and it was advanced enough, especially the part B to challenge me. But this was clearly an elective that only about 30 students took it, while back home it was a requirement for all.
Unfortunately, the current movement on dumbing down math and science in the name of 'equity' is a step behind and very dispiriting. It is bound to hurt poorer but smart kids, that can't afford private tutoring and have to rely only on public schools. Extreme progressive Liberals are killing science and progress in this country, and are becoming actually regressive and backwards.
P.s. The only advantage of American teaching on science was that it relies more on experiments to teach concepts, while the Albanian one had no equipment, or lacked the basics of it. Heck, in the 90s we didn't even have glass on the windows and had to freeze all winter. Also basic electricity was lacking half of the winter.
Ps2. Most Americans have it good (condition wise), they just don't know it
Ps3. This is a good video how schooling was back then (in 88). Notice how the kids are wearing jackets inside, as there was no heating https://youtu.be/yZD1jaKbz2g?t=251
Re: American parents are sending their kids to 'Russian math' (2017)
#8My sister sent my niece to one, as even her 'private' middle school in Newton, MA, was just not strong enough. She did sign up my niece in every summer class she could, without overloading her. It was always my nieces' choice, and half the time she choose arts and half science. Now, my niece is able to do college entry level data science classes (she is about to become a Junior in HighSchool), and she actually likes…
Out of curiosity, do you recall which ap physics course you took?
Re: American parents are sending their kids to 'Russian math' (2017)
#9May be due to Russian Technoloy advancement American people are very much interested in it. I have to search about this as well.
Re: American parents are sending their kids to 'Russian math' (2017)
#10By about 1/4th of the way through I wanted to just know what 'russian math' looked like. By Halfway it was pretty clear they weren't going to tell me. I skimmed the last half, nothing stood out. What does "Russian Math" look like?
> school's curriculum is based on Russian teaching traditions that emphasize reasoning and deeper understanding early on, not just memorization and practice drills. "The child should be brought to abstract level as soon as possible," she says, "meaning early introduction of algebra and geometry, not only arithmetic," and helping children figure out principles for themselves rather than spoon-feeding them.