I just returned from a business trip to Germany where in free time I had an opportunity to discuss High School mathematics with coworkers from many different countries – all of which I found out have much more rigorous requirements than Texas. When I got back and talked about this with some of our friends, I realized that even many “advanced” students at St. Michael’s (which is a fine school, far better than most in Texas) are only reaching AB calculus – which my foreign coworkers do not consider particularly “advanced” … On the plane ride home I began the following paper describing the problem in more detail, and why I think St. Dominic Savio High School may address it. conquering-low-expectations-through-sdshs
One challenge that we face, is how to improve our skills without losing the traditional advantage that our better schools have over the stereotypical schools in Asian countries which overemphasize “rote learning.” If our schools have been better at teaching students independent thinking and creative problem solving, we don’t want to lose that as we improve our standards. Fortunately this seems to be possible based on research by the College Board and Department of Education.
