Weekly Math Updates

Howdy folks,

Facebook

A few months ago I decided to check out this "Facebook" site that was so popular with people and was impressed with how the site was designed to be pretty safe so you just stay in touch with people you acknowledge as friends.  It's been interesting how many people find you there.  If you've got an account, feel free to add me to your friend list. 

State Math News

Just to keep you updated on things happening at the state level, a more complete draft is being worked on for the grant legislation of the Utah's Math Future bill.  Part of what this bill will allow for is not only for schools to get funds to implement Singapore math, but any other school that doesn't get grant money can still sign on to the core principles of the bill and opt out of the current state core in favor of a higher set of standards, curriculum, and testing.  As soon as it is released I will send a link out to everyone to take a look at it.

Awesome Book on Revolutionary War Stories

I don't often tell you about the books I'm reading, but I have to mention this one and give it an 11 out of 10 (slight fuzzy math involved there). Several months ago I was at a fireside lecture and heard Ron Carter share stories about people in the Revolutionary War that we never hear about.  For an hour I sat there enthralled by his stories wishing the night would never end.  It was one of the most fascinating talks I'd ever heard.  Last week I was in a Deseret Book store and chanced to see a new book by Ron Carter called, "Unlikely Heroes: Ordinary Men and Women Whose Courage Won the Revolution".  This is a book about those stories.  The book is filled with short Paul Harveyesque "Rest of the Story" type episodes of people you've never heard of and the things they did that helped turn the tide of war. Here's a link to Amazon which is the cheapest price I've found.

Unlikely Heroes: Ordinary Men and Women Whose Courage Won the Revolution

Unfortunately Ron passed away this past week.  He was a true freedom loving patriot and we are saddened to see him leave us.

What in the World is Going On?

If any of the below material is surprising to you because you're new to my list or website, I apologize that you've not been with me long enough yet to see how these things tie in, but I encourage you to read the links in ernest and ask yourself if these things don't make a lot of sense. 

I was recently involved in an email discussion where conversation centered on how fuzzy math programs have been accepted so much around the country. Having been battling this program and philosophy going on 4 years now in Utah, I've thought a lot about this and come to a few conclusions.

1) There are no studies that support constructivism
http://www.cogtech.usc.edu/publications/kirschner_Sweller_Clark.pdf

2) Constructivism at its roots shares the same philosophical core as communism
http://www.oaknorton.com/mathupdates/20080711.cfm

3) Who in their right mind thinks it's a *good* idea to not have children memorize their times tables? Answer: Nobody in their right mind who understands math and the world.  Therefore the creators of TERC type programs are either people

1. Not in their right mind or
2. Intentionally attempting to influence our nation in a very negative way.

I don't believe local educators are intentionally trying to hurt our children, but as you'll see below, I do believe many of them have become incapable of seeing the incredible harm being done to our children by this false theology.

I have previously emailed you concerning the book "The Naked Communist" written by Cleon Skousen in the 60's that listed 45 goals of the communists.  Several of them relate to education and dumbing us down as a nation.
http://www.oaknorton.com/mathupdates/20070404.cfm

My conclusion based on these things is that the Soviets did successfully infiltrate our upper tiers of education and have subverted our way of life.  I have previously emailed a link to some interviews Ed Griffin did with Yuri Bezmenov a KGB defector that had specific training in subverting countries. This particular video is most interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvcZiNt6ypI

To summarize, Yuri says the Communist purpose is to prevent people from coming to sensible conclusions about what is happening around them (2:50) mark.  Constructivism emphasizes the process, not the result.  Ever learning and never coming to a conclusion.

The stages of infiltration Bezmenov talks about center around a long term plan that leads to the socialization and eventual communization of a nation. The four steps he says the Soviets aimed for were:

1) Demoralization-pump marxism into the heads of children - takes 15-20 years so that that generation become the next teachers - due to lack of moral standards a person is unable to assess true information even when directly presented to this person

2) Destabilization- 2-5 years - economy, foreign relations, defense systems

3) Crisis-6 weeks, violent change in structure and economy

4) Normalization-Leaders promise a paradise on earth and remove free market economy

Notice how by teaching kids about marxism and socialism, and degrading their society, they can't even see truth when it's plainly in front of them.  The Soviets then work on destabilizing the country to the point that they can trigger a crisis.  At that point, the leaders promise they will take care of everything for you and in our ignorant bliss, we accept their offer and wind up with a communist utopia.

Anyone else feel like we're in stage 4 right now?

I have also previously emailed out about Charlotte Iserbyt's "The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America" which you can read the 700+ page book for free at this website.
http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com/ 

However, I also found that she has a video on YouTube that talks about some of the subversive things she witnessed or was indoctrinated on first hand and was taught to do within school systems.  It's a must watch video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDyDtYy2I0M&NR=1

As I recently posted in my article on Freedom and Agency, the only way to keep our freedom is to get educated on the principles of freedom.  I am working on a couple of websites that I hope will help in this effort.  I recommend you get started as soon as possible in building your freedom library of books. 

Articles of Interest

This first site comes from the folks at Where's the Math in Washington and is a great comparison of styles of math teaching.
Inquiry Based Instruction vs Example Based Instruction

Election of state school board might see changes
http://www.sltrib.com/education/ci_10997759

State ed board race winner drops out
http://www.sltrib.com/education/ci_11006927

FPS Math Software

I found this software when I was browsing through a list of the top software picks for a lot of categories.  I saw math software and of course had to look.  I haven't played it yet, but it looks like a pretty cool game.  It looks like it's a First Person Shooter that uses algebra to progress through the game.  If any of you download the demo before I do, please let me know if it's really as good mathematically as it looks graphically.

http://www.dimensionm.com/

 

Oak