RMEv8n1Jan2009

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Rural Mathematics Educator

volume 8, number 1 February 2009

Important Notice

With this issue, the Rural Mathematics Educator begins publication in a new format. Previous issues were published and archived as web documents on ACCLAIM’s website. (in fact, a second-generation ACCLAIM website). This issue is the first to appear as a single downloadable document accessible from a new website. Future issues of the RME will be posted only to the new site. This means that it’s time to refresh the RME mailing list. Please contact us with your email address if you wish to be notified when future issues may be

published. After this issue, notifications will be sent only to those on the refreshed list.

In time, we will transfer the ACCLAIM legacy to the new website, and then we will take down the old site. The timeframe for the take-down is perhaps six to twelve months.

mathematics appear often in your manuscript. We welcome distinctive and non-trendy scholarship. Empirical work (quantitative or qualitative) is a priority, but we will consider theoretical pieces, historical research or biography, and very well-argued commentary as well. Contact Craig Howley with an idea for an article.

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Drs. Jamie Fugitt, Craig Green, Sherry Jones, and Jeremy Zelkowski:

Four New ACCLAIM Dissertations

Since the previous issue of the RME appeared, four ACCLAIM students have

successfully defended dissertations. The works have been posted to the dissertation section of the new Rural Mathematics Education Website. Titles and abstracts appear below; consult the website for further details and fulltext (as provided by students).

Jamie Fugitt. Does the Grade Level at Which Algebra I Is Completed Affect Future Mathematics Performance?

According to analysis of 2003 NAEP data, the percentage of students enrolling in Algebra I prior to ninth grade continues to increase, up to 42% in 2003. This current study is designed to examine the benefits of acceleration into algebra by exploring four major questions regarding timing of algebra. The first question examines relationships between student characteristics and timing of algebra. Relationships between school characteristics and timing of algebra are examined by the second question. Questions three and four explore relationships between timing of algebra and mathematics achievement and course taking, respectively. Information was gathered on 449 students matriculating at a small liberal arts college, located in the

Midwest, during 2007-2008. Students were grouped according to the grade level at which they completed Algebra I. Eighty-two students completed Algebra I prior to ninth grade, 288 during ninth grade, and 79 after ninth grade. Statistical tests utilized to analyze the data include the chi square test of independence, one way between group analysis of variance, and multinomial logistic regression. A significant positive relationship between SES and enrollment in Algebra I prior to ninth grade and a significant negative relationship between SES and enrollment in Algebra I after ninth grade was found. No significant relationship was found between gender or race-ethnicity and timing of algebra.

Relationships between school type (home, private, public) and timing of algebra were significant. Home educated students were less likely than other students to complete Algebra I prior to ninth grade. Both home and private school students completed Algebra I after ninth grade more often than students from public schools. No significant difference in timing of algebra was found with regard to school size or school locale (rural/non-rural).

Craig Green. The Annenberg Rural Challenge Ten Years Later: Looking For a Place for Mathematics in a Rural Appalachia Place-Based Curriculum

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educational reform promoted by the Annenberg Rural Challenge. The study focused on the programs of five small rural Southern Appalachian schools. Qualitative methods of grounded theory were used to analyze data from interviews, surveys, and school artifacts.

Sherry Jones. The Question of Learning Equity between Online and Onsite Undergraduate Mathematics Courses in Rural Appalachia

This mixed-methods study focused on equity in learning as reflected in the final grades of online and onsite students from the same mathematics course. Onsite students were defined as students who attended regular class sessions. The onsite class did not consist of the professor solely transmitting information. Onsite students were expected to work and discuss problems in the class. Online students only attended an orientation session and a final exam. Simonson‘s Equivalency Theory (2000) served as the theoretical framework for this study as it promotes an equivalent sum of learning experiences for all students even though their learning environments and learning events may be quite different. Equity of learning between students was defined as learning that is equivalent in value and was measured by final course grades. Final course grades for all online student participants and all onsite student participants were compared statistically to see if there was a significant difference in learning. Statistical tests were also conducted on a number of subsets drawn from all participants‘ final grades in order to search for any underlying differences that might exist and to help answer whether the student need for equity in learning was being met. This research also focused on whether online mathematics courses are meeting the needs of rural Appalachian students. The strengths of quantitative and qualitative research techniques were utilized to help answer whether the needs of rural

Appalachian students are being met by online mathematics classes. Surveys, interviews, field notes, observations, tutoring records, communication records, WebCT reports, student transcripts, and student work provided rich sources of data for this study. Participants in this study were 24 student volunteers, 18 years old or older, from a mathematics course at Glenville State College during the Spring 2008 semester. The findings of this study revealed no

significant differences in online and onsite student final grades, in rural online and rural onsite student final grades, or in rural and nonrural student final grades. Equity of learning occurred among the student groups in this study. Further, the needs of at least some rural Appalachian students are met by online mathematics courses.

Jeremy Zelkowski. Important Secondary Mathematics Enrollment Factors that

Influence the Completion of a Bachelor's Degree

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completed in high school and his constructed overall academic intensity variable from Carnegie credits earned, were analyzed while controlling for 12th grade socioeconomic status and 8th grade math proficiency. Logistic regression was used with data from the National

Center for Education Statistics’ National Education Longitudinal Study. NELS was conducted from 1988 to 2000. These data provided a rich and large sample size of students with secondary and post-secondary transcripts for this study. The results of the data analysis confirmed

Adelman’s findings. Further, continuous enrollment in secondary mathematics education emerged as important, if not more important, than the completion of a specific secondary mathematics course for students seeking a bachelor’s degree during their post-secondary education. The secondary mathematics intensity level (MIL) significantly increased the odds of bachelor degree completion. The MIL variable was constructed from available NELS variables related to secondary mathematics for each student. The MIL results indicate that secondary mathematics teachers should increase student expectations and classroom intensity in an effort to raise students’ odds of bachelor degree completion. Finally, the results of this study in

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The Rural Roots of Western Democracy: An Essay Review of Victor Davis Hanson’s The Other Greeks

Victoria Hamlin

Hanson, Victor Davis (1995). The Other Greeks: The Family Farm and the Agrarian Roots of Western Civilization. New York: The Free Press. 541pp. ISBN 0-02-913751-9

Introduction

This book was written with multiple audiences in mind, by an author who has by reason of

personal experience, justification for taking an unorthodox approach to his subject matter.

Hanson states in his introduction, that he wishes “to reach an audience outside the university, to

remind them that agrarianism was once the very center of their own civilization.” (p.9) The

Other Greeks, then is for not only those who study classical Greek history, but those interested

in the history of agricultural practice, and those who look at historical events as a way to better

understand the current culture as well. In this book, Hanson offers the reader both the scholarly

research of a Ph.D. in classic Greek studies, and the insights of a sixth generation farmer from

the southern San Joaquin Valley.

The merits and the shortcomings of this book will be reviewed for the impact and relevance

it has in the field of rural sociology, our understanding of western civilization, and educational

practice. I address what this work offers as a resident of a rural community of 1,381, an

educator, and student of rural sociology. Hanson’s claims though interpreted through his own

agrarian roots, are thoroughly researched through scrutiny of primary source documents such as

Homer’s Odyssey and Hesiod’s Works and Days, works of historians in the immediate

aftermath of the period such as Aristotle and Plato, and more recent scholarly works of his

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essential to a democracy, but in attributing the origins of those values solely to them, has

ignored the contributions of other societies.

One of the great strengths of this book is the author Victor Davis Hanson. As both a farmer

and a scholar, he has studied Greek and military history, agriculture, and the American political

system inside out. His accomplishments include earning a Ph.D. in Classical Studies from

Stanford University in 1980, joining California State University, Fresno, in 1984 to initiate a

Classics program, a National Endowment for the Humanities fellow at the Center for Advanced

Studies in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, California (1992–93), a visiting professor of

classics at Stanford University (1991–92). He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Hoover

Institution and is a weekly columnist for the National Review Online and serves on the editorial

board of Arion, the Military History Quarterly, and City Journal, as well as the board of the

Claremont Institute. Hanson is the author of some 170 articles, book reviews, newspaper

editorials on Greek, agrarian, and military history and essays on contemporary culture. He has

written or edited thirteen books, and has written essays, editorials, and reviews for the American

Heritage, Commentary, Daily Telegraph, the International Herald Tribune, National Review,

the New York Post, New York Times, Policy Review, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Times

the Weekly Standard, and the Wilson Quarterly. He has also been interviewed often on

National Public Radio, the PBS News hour, and C-Span Book TV. In addition to this prolific

writing and teaching career, and very germane to his argument Hanson lives and works on a

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Synopsis

Hanson’s thesis is that men of early Greece, whose intense attachment to the family farm,

and willingness to fight to preserve that way of life, gave us the core values of Western

Civilization. The book deals with the four centuries of Greek history from 700 to 300 BC. Part

one deals with the rise of small farmers; how their struggles against nature to advance and

cultivate their farms developed the ideals and values that made possible the appearance of the

early Greek polis. In part two, Hanson explains how the middle class small farm owners

develop a democratic timocracy (where the right to participate is dependent on land ownership).

He then details how the farmers as Hoplites (heavily armed infantry soldiers) preserved

agrarianism (a political movement designed to improve the economic status of the farmer) by

limiting warfare to a decisive, almost duel-like battle that allowed minimal time to be spent

away from the farm. Part three details the loss of the early agrarian culture due to changes in

citizenship requirements, warfare, and changes in agricultural practices. In the epilogue,

Hanson delivers the cultural relevance to our times and educational practices and reveals the

rationale for the research presented in this book.

The Origins of Western Culture

Permanent crops like orchards and grape vines, Hanson says from personal knowledge,

require a commitment, and “People who choose this form of agriculture have confidence that

they can and will stay put, that they can and will keep the countryside populated, prosperous,

and peaceful.”(p.42) He further states: “Trees and vines are passed down to children and

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thinking from mere production to stewardship of a lifetime’s investment.”(p.43) This working

of the land has an effect on those who labor to cultivate not only a season’s produce, but a

heritage.

Hanson states that property ownership, investing in the future by hard manual labor, and the

development of pragmatism by management of a self-sufficient enterprise such as a farm are

necessary for the creation of the ideals of egalitarianism, civilian control of the military, and

other values that characterize Western culture. He argues that these values are necessary for

democracy to flourish, and they originated with the ancient Greek citizen-farmer. He makes an

excellent case for this first assertion, and goes on to show how a loss of these values can

undermine democracy. (p.405-410) The second assertion, regarding the origin of the values and

ideals within the Greek Polis Period of 700-400BC is where He and I would have to disagree,

simply because I am aware of at least one older theocracy where some of these values and ideals

also existed.

Hanson has listed what he considers twelve fundamentals of Western civilization, and

attributes them to the discovery of Greek farmers, rather than urban intellectuals.(p.411-12)

While he is right in saying they were not discovered by urban intellectualism, (a phenomenon

somewhat like clouds without rain), some of them were around prior to 700B.C.

Egalitarianism, for instance, was enforced in Mosaic Law recorded in the Pentateuch in 1410

B.C. There was to be no permanent poverty, for example: “At the end of every seven years you

shall grant a release of debts.” (Deut. 15:1) “If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew

woman is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free

from you. And when you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty

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your winepress.” (Deut. 15:12-14) Regarding kings, the law is also against ostentatious

wealth. “But he shall not multiply horses for himself…neither shall he multiply wives for

himself…nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself…that his heart may not be

lifted above his brethren.” (Deut. 17:15-20) As we know, the kings did not follow this, but

nevertheless, the idea was recorded. There is evidence of laws with regard to private property

ownership. “You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark…” (Deut. 19:14).

Mosaic Law also deals with citizen-farmers in a non-standing military that Hanson describes

in detail in part two of his book. The citizen-farmers of Israel are told that if they have built a

new house and not dedicated it, planted a vineyard and not eaten of it, gotten betrothed but not

yet married, or are simply fainthearted, they are excused from military service, (Deut. 20:5-8)

which implies no standing army. During the period of the Judges, 1380-1050 B.C., the Old

Testament of the Bible records that Judges arose during times of enemy oppression as a

deliverer from out of the ranks of obscure citizens much like the hoplite generals of Greece.

The one substantial difference was that there were among the judges, Deborah a woman, and

Jephthah who was illegitimate, which would never have happened in Greece. These judges

were not monarchs or politicians who enjoyed using power and wished to hand their position

down to their children. Gideon, for example, responds to his call to serve with “how can I save

Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”

(Judges 6:15) When Gideon had led Israel to victory over the Midianites, and the men of Israel

asked him to rule over them, he responded, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over

you; the Lord shall rule over you.” (Judges 8:23) Clearly, this demonstrates egalitarian ideals

existed amongst the Hebrews. For those who argue about using the Bible as a source of

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using it to prove an event occurred, only that old-testament text, Torah, did exist and contained

certain ideas and values. The oldest known scrolls of the Torah still in existence were found in

Qumran caves and have been carbon dated from 350 B.C. to 13 A.D., (Stiles, 1995) and were

copies of the original writings that date back to much earlier times.

So am I saying that some of these ideas were not unique to the Greeks or that they were

borrowed from Israel? It could have been either case. One thinks that it would not be hard for a

polytheistic society such as the Greeks to embrace the ideas of one more god when they had so

many. Although what we think of as the Diaspora began in 70 A.D., we cannot forget that

captives from the northern kingdom were carried away by the armies of Shalmaneser V and

Sargon II during the Assyrian invasion of 722 B.C. There were also a series of three invasions

of Judah by Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar 605-588 B.C., which resulted in captives being

taken into exile there. The ancient world was not isolated. People traded, slaves were bought

and sold. The slaves of the ancient world, for example Joseph or Daniel, were not illiterate and

could hold positions of responsibility and authority. Hanson says of Laertes and his slaves

Dolios and sons, “old Laertes apparently is intimate with his slaves, living and working among

them at similar tasks.” (p.65) It is possible that there were both free and enslaved Jews in

Greece. What we do know from recorded history is when Paul went to Greece in the first

century; there were synagogues in Thessalonica, Berea, Athens and Corinth.

This idea of a Jewish contribution to morality had a substantial impact on the development of

American ideals. It was stated during the early years of our own democracy. Consider this

quote by President John Adams in a letter to Francois Adriaan Van der Kemp dated 16 February

1809: “I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation. If I

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the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations. If I were an atheist of the

other sect, who believe or pretend to believe that all is ordered by chance, I should believe that

chance had ordered the Jews to preserve and propagate to all mankind the doctrine of a

supreme, intelligent, wise, almighty sovereign of the universe, which I believe to be the great

essential principle of all morality, and consequently of all civilization.” This thought was later

repeated by Einstein, “The highest principles for our aspirations and judgments are given to us

in the Jewish-Christian religious tradition. It is a very high goal which, with our weak powers,

we can reach only very inadequately, but which gives a sure foundation to our aspirations and

valuations.” (Einstein, 1950 p.27)

Hanson’s work, while debatable about the origins of the ideals and values that make

democracy possible, does help our understanding of what it takes to make a stable, democratic

government. The agrarian roots of the early Greek polis, and our own democracy made

possible the practice of the ideas of egalitarianism and constitutional government by creating a

work ethic that comes from owning land and working it for a living. Were the framers of our

constitution thinking of the success of the hoplites when they penned the second amendment in

1791: “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the

people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”? James Madison, who is traditionally

considered the father of our constitution, shared the agrarian distrust of government that was not

accountable to anyone. Here is the reasoning given for a having a Senate as well as a House of

Representatives as quoted in Notes of the Secret Debates of the Federal Convention of 1787, by

Robert Yates: “Landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these

invaluable interests, and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to

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body; and to answer these purposes, they ought to have permanency and stability.” He also felt

there was danger inherent in a standing military. In a speech at the constitutional convention he

said, “A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions

to liberty.” (Farrand, 1911) This combination of limiting executive power and limiting the

military force to militia was, in his mind, essential to the success of our democracy.

Cultural Implications for Rural America

John Adams, our second president said in a letter to John Taylor, “Remember, democracy

never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet

that did not commit suicide.” Hanson, who has studied military history as well as Greeks

Classicism , attributes the Hellenistic city-state taking the place of the agrarian polis to changes

to hoplite warfare, and the erosion of the small privately owned family farms. The new warfare

required a standing military, and the taxes to support them. The new economy of increased

trade increased wealth separate from land ownership, and citizenship was eventually granted to

some who were not land owners. (p.358-361)

These changes were followed by “growing depopulation of the countryside, specialization

of crops, decline in farm residence, enormous increase in farm size, growth of mercenaries,

continual warring among professional armies, transference of local capital, an end to regional

community autonomy, the impotence of representative assemblies, serfdom and peasantry

replacing widespread ownership of chattel slaves, and growing rural impoverishment along with

enrichment of the urban elite.” (p. 410) We could compare that to our current culture. We

currently live in an era of increasing corporate farming, trade deficits (Crutsinger, 2008), urban

billionaires such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet (Kroll, 2008), and the loss of manufacturing

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there is an ever increasing number of federal government mandates with a concurrent

weakening of State and local autonomy, especially regarding schools and environmental issues,

and an unpopular partisan legislature with a 70% disapproval rating. (Real Clear Politics, 2008)

Hanson tells us that this loss of the dominant role of yeomanry in Greek history resulted in

the fact that most of the values of the Greek yeoman “vanished from common practice, both

chronologically and regionally once the agrarian middle of the Hellenic city state disappeared.”

(p.414) There has been an undeniable shift from the values reflected in Poor Richard’s

Almanac that were upheld by the middle class for so long. Perhaps it is inevitable because of

the dependence of our constitution on a society with a strong work ethic and moral values. As

Benjamin Franklin said in a speech to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, “In these

sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution, with all its faults, — if they are such; because I

think a general Government necessary for us, and there is no form of government but what may

be a blessing to the people, if well administered; and I believe, farther, that this is likely to be

well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have

done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government,

being incapable of any other.” If our current political officials and candidates with their thefts,

adulteries, and mendacities are a reflection of what we have become as a Nation, we have

indeed become corrupted.

Thomas Jefferson said in a letter to Thomas Law in 1814 that “To ourselves, in strict

language, we can owe no duties, obligation requiring also two parties. Self-love, therefore, is no

part of morality. Indeed, it is exactly its counterpart.” One of the most salient points Hanson

makes in his book is not only what great things a society can accomplish when they consider

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have slipped from these foundational ideals that built this country by neglecting these virtues.

We have worked hard to build self esteem in our young, but forgot to teach them to esteem

others as well. Our rights and freedoms come at a cost. Yes, you have the legal right to sue

McDonalds because you burned yourself with their hot coffee, but that doesn’t make it morally

right. It serves the interest of the individual, but not the society that pays for higher insurance

and product costs.

The self-reliance and sense of personal responsibility of the early Greek and American

farmer is now vanishing off the scene in our land. Hanson is concerned, as are others, on the

current trends of irresponsible individualism and obsessive materialism. Virtue has been

replaced with self esteem which has lead to a nation of narcissists. In a review of The Culture of

Narcissism, Christine Rosen says: “Lasch argued that for the narcissist, the world was a mirror.

To the over praised American, the world is a screen — TV, video game, computer —where it is

easy to find examples of others gaining attention and praise and easy to absorb hundreds of

hours of passive, personalized entertainment.”(Rosen, 2005) Hard work on the farm brought us

virtue, service and excellence, life in front of the screen in its many forms has brought us vice,

materialism, and mediocrity.

Implications for Educational Practice

Implications for educational practice both those that author intended and detailed, and some

that seemed to arise from reading this book without the author’s consciously bringing them to

the reader’s attention were many. For example, Hanson wrote primarily for those who were

studying Greek Classicism and its relevance to our society today, but it brought the relevance

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The study of mathematics for its own sake can be fruitful and a bit ahead of its time, for

example the development of Boolean Algebra by George Boole, which his contemporaries

scoffed at, but is now the basis for computers and automated systems. However, Hanson’s

advice to make your subject matter relevant to the populace, or “keep it real”, is sound practice

for the mathematics educator to follow as often as possible. Students engage more in

mathematics that are relevant to what they can envision as being part of the “real world”. When

we use real, meaningful context where appropriate to teach mathematics, we not only show the

validity of its study, but motivate and inspire our students to further inquiry into the subject.

Hanson uses his discourse to warn us of the moral, political and cultural costs of the loss of

the family owned farm and the ensuing erosion of our nation’s values. The implication for

education is clear in the response to erosion of values by the U.S. Department of Education,

which has launched a Character Education website. In addition to this, many schools have

implemented Character Education programs to teach the young such virtues as kindness,

honesty, and sharing to stem the tide of violence and crime in our schools. There have been

studies that suggest that these programs improve not only the moral and ethical standards of the

students in the school but the academic achievement as well. (Benninga, Berkowitz, Keuhn, &

Smith, 2006) We as a nation want to see improvement in academic achievement; especially the

science and mathematics content areas where we face stiff international competition.

(COSEPUP, 2007) The restoration and study of traditional values is one way to accomplish

this. For example, in mathematics the combination of math and ethics is used to look at

questions of social justice. Considering what values keep us on the right track seems prudent in

light of questions that are raised about the ethics of current educational practices regarding

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Hanson also points out the implications to tertiary academics in our changing nation. He is

blunt here. Academia is in danger of marginalizing itself by its “sacred” practices. His

observation on publishing is: “We write ever more about ever less for ever fewer.” (p.415) He

goes on to explain why: “American universities that value miniscule teaching responsibilities

and sheer quantity of output over quality, independence and originality of research.” He further

censures current practices by saying, “if academics are to continue to write for and squabble

only among themselves in obtuse language, on topics unintelligible to the public, why not turn

the entire enterprise over to the machines.” (p.417) He then encourages populism. Well done

here, Hanson! You can clearly see the need for relevance and populism. But then you hoist

yourself with your own petard. There is a difficulty in practicing what you preach.

One of the flaws of this book is that it is a protracted and difficult read, written in the

obscure verbiage of the academic elitist. While one may know from some previous exposure

what words such as nascent or ubiquitous mean, they are so far out of the vernacular that you

must stop reading long enough to recall what they mean. Having then lost the train of thought,

you must now re-read the sentence paragraph or page. Admittedly, it’s a good thing to

encourage extensive vocabulary, and publishers make suggestions like “use language

parsimoniously”. So you use “nascent” when a greater number of readers would have

understood “originating from” better? In all honesty, Hanson admits that the danger in using

the obscure language of the academic elitist and then because he is so steeped in it, forgets

himself and uses it anyway. There are actually many foreign words such as déjà vu or siesta

that are more a part of the daily language of the American public and take less time to process

when you read them than those of the language of the scholar. Language can be a conveyer of

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here in rural America using academic language, I would not only fail to communicate, but they

would be forced to make the decision to amuse themselves by mocking me on the spot or to be

polite and wait till they get home to make sport of my gaffe. Scholarly language is more oft the

tool of the kamikaze educator than the effective sensei. Since Hanson is admits this is a flaw

and takes a stab at writing for everyone, we must pardon these lapses.

There is one other thing that goes across the grain of my mathematical nature. Hanson

makes his point –repetitiously. I was not able to discern if this was for emphasis, to ensure that

he was able to use all of his over 400 citations, because as a writer and a lecturer that he has a

loquacious nature or he just had a page quota. Maybe it just all built up while he was out at the

farm, but it wasn’t necessary. Concise, pithy writing is a beautiful thing. Hanson and the rest

of the academic community need to realize that longer words are not the best conveyers of

information, and neither are longer works. This review then seems a little tongue-in-cheek, but

it is an academic essay review, of an academic work, for an academic audience. Society has its

claims on us all, and I am excessively aware of what is expected of me.

Bringing It Back Home

Like Hanson, I have an appreciation of the farm that comes from some very intense labor

there. My dad’s ninety eight acres grew rocks and weeds as well as anything we ever planted.

There was scrub brush that continually grew up along the creek and needed to be cleared as

much as I needed to earn my keep, which is another outdated value. Like Hanson, I would like

to see hard work be considered a virtue in America. I want to see the family farm and its virtues

kept no matter what the financial expense. It’s a part of the family identity in a way; we built

that house, fenced that pasture, planted that tree, it has become part of who we are. My children

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doesn’t matter that we will probably support the farm more than vice versa. I am one of the

outspoken, plain-speaking, opinionated, rustic characters Hanson described the farmers as.

George Washington is credited with saying, “I had rather be on my farm than be emperor of the

world.” Hanson and I would agree. It’s a good life, the hard work necessary for farming is

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References

Benninga, J.S., Berkowitz, M.W., Keuhn, P., & Smith, K. (2006, February). Character and academics: What good schools do. Phi Delta Kappan 87(6), 448-452.

Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy, (2007). Rising above the gathering storm. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

Crutsinger, M (2008, April 11). Increase in trade deficit raises concern (Associated Press story). [Online] Available: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080411/ ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi

/economy

Einstein, A. (1950). Out of my later years. New York: Philosophical Library.

Farrand, M. (1911). Records of the federal convention of 1787 (vol. I), p. 465.

Kroll, Luisa (2008, March) The world's richest people: World's billionaires. Forbes. [Online] available: http://www.forbes.com/2008/03/05/richest-billionaires-people-billionaires08-cx_lk_0305intro_print.html

Otterman, S. (2004, February) Trade: Outsourcing jobs. Council on Foreign Relations. [Online] Available: http://www.cfr.org/publication/7749/trade.html

Real Clear Politics Congressional Approval Polls. (2008). [Online] Available: Real Clear Politics website: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/polls/

Rosen, C. (2005) The over praised American.Policy Review, 133, 27-43.

Stemhagen, K. (2008) Doin’the math: On meaningful mathematics-ethics connections. The Montana Math Enthusiast, 5(1), 59-66. [Online] Available:

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=27730014&site=ehos t-live

Stiles, L.(2008). New radiocarbon age dates for dead sea scrolls agree with paleographic dates. [Online] University of Arizona website. Available: http://www.physics.

arizona.edu/physics/public/dead-sea.html#text April 2008

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Leaving Home Was Not an Option

Sherry Jones

Central West Virginia, specifically Gilmer County, is my home and has been all my life.

I graduated from Gilmer County High School (GCHS) and Glenville State College (GSC) over

30 years ago. My undergraduate education degree prepared me for three areas of teaching

certification: Mathematics, 7 - 12, Secretarial Studies 7 – 12, and Language Arts 7-9. In 1981,

after my two sons were born, I began teaching higher mathematics at Gilmer County High

School. In 1984, I completed my master’s degree in education from West Virginia University.

My master’s degree focused in part on gifted education, and I completed a fourth teaching

certification, Gifted 7 – 12.

In January of 1988, I left Gilmer County High School to begin teaching in the Business

Department at Glenville State College. I have been teaching at Glenville State for twenty years

now. My main teaching responsibilities are in the areas of quantitative analysis and statistics. I

also taught business communication for several years. For many reasons, I had almost given up

on achieving a terminal degree in education. In late 2003, I saw a small paragraph in the West

Virginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics newsletter describing the ACCLAIM doctoral

program. I contacted Dr. Robert Mayes, only to learn the 2004 cohort had been selected and

there was no room for me. A few months later, Dr. Mayes contacted me to let me know that

someone had chosen to drop out of the cohort before classes actually began. I applied to the

ACCLAIM doctoral program and was subsequently invited to join Cohort 2, just a short time

(21)

At the time I joined the ACCLAIM cohort, I was searching for new ways to teach

mathematics to my students. I wanted to try to help my students overcome their frustrations

with mathematics. Each year, it seemed more and more students were struggling academically,

especially in mathematics. I was also interested in pursuing a doctoral degree, particularly in

mathematics, my favorite teaching field. In order to get an advanced degree focusing on

mathematics, however, it would have been necessary to take a leave of absence from my

teaching and travel at least 90 miles one way to attend classes. Further, leaving home to pursue

graduate studies was not a viable option. The ACCLAIM program made achieving my goals

possible, while still maintaining a full-time teaching job.

As others have stated, ACCLAIM truly changes lives. I was able to achieve my goals

that led me to the program, but I gained so much more than those achievements. An

unexpected, but welcome, surprise in the program was the academic focus on rural life and rural

schooling issues. The rural academic focus of the ACCLAIM program validated things I had

lived and witnessed in a rural area. It brought a certain peace of mind and perspective to learn

that scholars had documented rural schooling issues.

The cohort model itself is such a powerful, life-changing experience. My life has been

truly enriched by friendships and professional relationships with the professors and students in

the ACCLAIM program. I expect the friendships established to be life-long. We experienced

our own “community” in the program. Further, I had the opportunity to attend national

conferences and meet mathematics experts and rural scholars.

There were times when I felt like giving up because personal obstacles stood in the way

of my completing the program. It was my ACCLAIM family who encouraged me during those

(22)

My interest and experiences in taking and teaching online classes as well as mathematics led me

to my dissertation topic. The title of my dissertation is The Question of Learning Equity

between Online and Onsite Undergraduate Mathematics Courses in Rural Appalachia. My

research was conducted with two sections of a mathematics class taught during the Spring 2008

semester at GSC. While finishing my dissertation, I also began serving as Chair of the Business

Department at Glenville State. I graduated August 15, 2008, with a Ph.D. in Education from the

University of Tennessee.

At this writing, I am planning to present my dissertation research at the Appalachian

Association of Mathematics Teacher Educator (AAMTE) Conference in Williamsburg, KY, in

November 2008. I am also expanding my research to include data from previous semesters to

see if a larger data set gathered over a longer period of time yields different results than those

reported in my dissertation. I have been teaching one or two online classes each semester since

2005.

I feel blessed and fortunate to have been a member of ACCLAIM Cohort 2. My

students and college have benefited from ACCLAIM’s professional growth and research

opportunities. The friendships and professional relationships formed in the ACCLAIM program

have been extremely rewarding and valuable to me. Rural communities and schools benefit

(23)

Updates: Doc Program, National Study, and Research Symposium

Doctoral Program

To date, nine ACCLAIM students have completed dissertations: six at the University of

Tennessee Knoxville, two at the University of Louisville, and one at Ohio University. Of the

nine, seven students were members of the first cohort (2001 enrollment) and two from the

second cohort (2004 enrollment). Members of the first two cohorts have, of course, completed

coursework. Members of the third cohort will complete their final course (a doctoral seminar)

in the spring of 2010.

National Study

ACCLAIM’s national study gathered data in seven rural sites across the nation, where

informants had suggested (given their personal knowledge of the sites) that math teachers might

be making connections between the math curriculum and the local community. The study team

leaders were skeptical, and the study was designed not to collate “best practices” of place-based

education in mathematics, but to remain alert to the struggles of attempting to forge links

between the math curriculum and the community. Indeed, most informants who had nominated

sites did so on the basis of the sites’ engagement with place-based (or community-based) efforts

in general—and not specifically in the instruction of mathematics. Study leaders briefed site

researchers about focusing on the struggle; and the study interview protocols kept questions

general and without bias. Basically, the question was this: “What’s going on here to connect

math and community?”

As with the previous update, it’s too early for specific findings. Writers and site

researchers, however, conclude in general—and tentatively—that (a) sites exhibit considerable

(24)

leadership) and (b) much of the connection with mathematics takes place in fields like science,

social studies (to some extent), and in cross-disciplinary projects. Secondary mathematics

teachers, it appears, participate at the margins of these other activities—not entirely

disconnected, but not embracing community connections, in most sites, enthusiastically. A

typical response from secondary mathematics teachers to the study’s general thrust (“what’s

going on here to connect math and community?”) is not much. One interviewee observed

(rather self-deprecatingly): “I’m your typical closeted math teacher.” In short, it’s a struggle to

make the connection between math instruction and community, and the publications from this

study will likely describe the dynamics of the struggle.

As suggested in the previous issue, data collection in the seven study sites was

completed in late spring 2008. Data analysis and case reports are in progress; two case reports

have been completed and two others are in progress. In the meantime, however, two papers

based on the study data have been accepted for the 2009 annual meeting of the American

Educational Research Association (each paper based on one of the study cases). One will be

given under the banner of the mathematics education special interest group: “Connecting

Mathematics and Community: First Findings from a National Study” (Robert Klein, Aimee

Howley, Craig Howley). The other, given in the rural education SIG is: “Place-Based Education

at Island Community School.” The Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human

Subjects has granted an extension for the ongoing data analysis.

Research Symposium

The ACCLAIM Research Symposium Retrospective to Congratulate, Celebrate and

Conclude (C3) is taking shape. On May 24-26, 2009, all three doctoral cohorts together with

(25)

Newark, Ohio. All expenses will be covered, but in exchange, participants will lead discussions,

present posters, and facilitate the varied events.

The program will feature topics of interest to each cohort; a final report from Inverness

Research Associates, our external evaluators; and a finale by Jeremy Kilpatrick (University of

Georgia), recipient of the 2007 Felix Klein Medal from the International Commission on

Mathematics Instruction. As readers may remember, Felix Klein’s work served to anchor

ACCLAIM’s curriculum planning for the doctoral program. Cohort 3 will have an opportunity

to meet potential doctoral committee chairs from all institutions and to gain practical advice

from Cohorts 1 and 2.

Cherry Valley Lodge is an excellent family-friendly location with an indoor water park

as well as hiking and biking trails. The Lodge is located within easy reach of the Columbus,

Ohio airport. Registration forms and program assignments will be coming to an inbox near you

RMEv8n1Jan2009

Rural Mathematics Educator

Important Notice

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