Arithmetic is Easy
- Author:
Rogers, M.A.
100 pages. Evans Bros., Ltd., London. 3s. 6d.
My first reaction on reading Miss Rogers’ Rightful book was one of deep regret for all jhe hours of suffering I had passed through because I had not read her book when I was ln the schoolroom, and incidentally neither had teachers!
Those of us who have to deal with difficult ?nd sensitive children find that a large propor- llon of them have great difficulty in grasping Arithmetic as it is taught in school. Although many cases it is obvious that there are emo- lQnal factors underlying the difficulty it is also c’ear that they have failed to understand the subject because it has not been presented to “ern in a way which was suited to their Mentality.
A- common difficulty to which Miss Rogers j^fers is due to insufficient repetition of elemen- rules; thus a child who has missed a few . eeks’ schooling finds itself completely out of ‘s depth on its return, and so becomes dis- ^Uraged and defeatist in its outlook. Children’s uids are so logical that if arithmetic were ^Presented to them as a reasonable thing in the anner suggested by Miss Rogers, and if all ,e examples were related to real situations, as suggests, there is little doubt but that they ?uld find arithmetic a pleasure. As she so truly says it is the one subject in which one can attain absolute perfection. If a sum is right it is right, and by the method of self checking which she advocates the child can have all the pleasure of demonstrating the correctness of its own work.
One common difficulty results from the different methods employed by different teachers, sometimes even in the same school. Surely the pundits can agree on some uniform procedure; the more so as it is a matter of perfect indiffer- ence to the average adult and all that is required is a method that will yield accurate results. Everyone should read Miss Rogers’ little book, even those fortunate ones who have not suffered themselves, for it will certainly enlarge their horizon and give them a clearer outlook. It is specially to be recommended to educational psychologists and psychiatric social workers who have to deal with problems of school children. Would that all methematical teachers were as understanding and clear minded as the author of this book. D.M.O.
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