Mathematicians throughout California, including two from Cal State Long Beach, have added their signatures to a letter of protest addressed to incoming Cal State University Chancellor Charles Reed.
The letter, written earlier this month and signed by 102 mathematicians statewide, denounces a Dec. 8, 1997 statement from the Intersegmental Committee of Academic Senates, which represents professors at California public higher education institutions.
However, the Cal State Northridge math professor who initiated the letter, said that the ICAS, which opposes the new K-12 math standards adopted by the California Board of Education, did not take many professors' opinions into account.
"The presidents of the academic senates were claiming to represent a consensus in the state of California," David Klein said. "There is no consensus. Most mathematicians were never asked."
The ICAS supports the draft standards written by the California State Academic Standards Commission, which were rejected by the board last year.
Klein said the professors who signed the letter want to send a message to Reed that the K-12 standards proposed by ICAS are not endorsed by all mathematicians in California.
"We want to improve education in California," Klein said. "Part of the reason students don't learn math is because of these crazy math standards."
The ICAS, the protesters said, overlook the basic skills needed to succeed in math. According to the letter, the commission's proposed revisions to K-12 standards do not require students to learn long division when the divisor has more than one digit.
James Stein, a math professor at CSULB who also signed the letter, said the ICAS heads seem to support the past, rather than the future, of math education.
"We want people to know what two-times-three is."
"The methods of the past 10 years have not worked. [The new K-12 standards] are changing the direction of math education," Stein said. Stein said the goal of math is to solve problems, not emphasize theories of learning.
"We want people to know what two-times-three is," Stein said.
Remedial math classes have increased at CSULB in the last 10 years. Stein said this is due to students not being taught adequate math in high school.
Kent Merryfield, an associate math professor at CSULB, said the three ICAS officials went too far in their statement. "They implied they were speaking for us. We want the chancellor to understand there are other opinions out there," Merryfield said.
A spokeswoman for Reed, who officially takes his post in March, said she did not know if he had read the letter. James Highsmith, chair of the Academic Senate of the CSU system, was not available for comment.