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Show The Salt Lake Tribune OPINION Sunday, November 8, 1998 Modern Textbooks Are Hazardousto Child’s Education Approach, students are bamboo- BY GARY HULL FOR THE LOS ANG! ES Society's greatest concern claim the so-called humanitarians, is children suffering frominadequate nutrition, shelter and health care. Yet these same “humanitarians” are silent about the scourge destroying children’s minds: textbooks. Consider math textbooks, which should train students to think logically. Instead, using texts such as Addison-Wesley's Secondary Math: An eres romersrine A zled with “team math,” which en- courages each child to defer pas- sively to the group as it guessesat solutions. These textbooks reject the notion of correct answers ar- rived at by individual problem- solving. The team math approach employs ‘‘jigsawing,” whereby Susie, Johnny and Sally each are given onepart of a problem to work on. Then the group agrees on an overall solution. This kind of “learning” de- stroys a student’s independent, pee Bavelgnment The re- sult is that your child will not know howto build a bridgeorcalculatethe tip on a restaurant bill, but he will be forever obedient to an assertive clique. The same anti-intellectual atti- tude permeateshistory textbooks. Such books should befilled with narrative explaining the important events of the past, including the ideas that caused them. But the new texts are gutted of any substantive presentation of histoTy as a sequenceof interrelated events. Pages are nowfilled with colorful visuals, not to support the narrative, but to replaceit Moderntextbooks are one more symptomof our culture's growing rejection of the central role of reason in human life. Unless we start to grasp the urgent need to ErleTestes Of TheSeason. develop the individual child's conceptual ability, our schools will be turning out an ever-in- creasing numberofstudents who simply do not know howtothink Hull is a senior writer for the Ayn RandInstitute. pres PteING CHECK UP .ON NATURAL GASSYSTEMS Also... Furnaces / Change Outs Add on or ReplacementService ‘Winterize LOW OVERHEAD “BEST PRICES Now Beat the Rush and Natural Gas Hydronic Heating, SAVE. ett Custom Installation $ 0 00 1 ° OFF Natural Gas Snow Melt Systems veinsCOLTON MAKE YOUR HEATING SYSTEM SMILE WASATCH FRONT HEATING & AIR Enjoy Energy Efficient Natural Gee 337613. VINEGAR and OIL GIFT IDEAS Choose Heavenly Hain selection of 375 ml. and 750 ml. rs and oils. Dressings also aive them a professional look. Heat shrink Hoods,tasting corks and lal alee. I i Homemade ronvest kits. $27.95 Includes: Seotc © Bucket ling hoes HEE gu | RSS SUPPLIES i Gx | FORALL ll BOTTLING NEEDS ww *¢ Open 7 A nnn 293So.eaeSLC 3560 Riverdale Week OrTurkeyThis Thanksgiving. Whentaste matters, Heavenly Hamdelivers thebest tastes of the season. Our spiral-sliced, honeyandspiceglazed hams, or wholeandboneless smokedturkeys arethetoasts of any holiday gathering. For a great tasting Thanksgiving, call or stopby Heavenly Hamtoday. foccctt coco 4 Any Half or fj Whole Heavenly t1$5500.. Ham or Turkey 7194 So. oe eens 566-7250 .* www heavenlyham.com S88, Every Casual Dining Set In Our Great Selection Has Been Marked Down Leisure Living 2174 S 1100 E (Rear) Adjacentto Granite Furniture See 467°9289 oaree TTT ens IN-LINE BS ey SHOES Sad uae) There arelines at the aro MTSa are anil EN a Cro MN isa Y urna eu anu LR Te Ee CHRIS HEIMERDINGER Book or Book on Cassette Coming November 17 to all LDS Bookstores! | |