David Klein (California State University Northridge)

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Professor David Klein teaches at the California State University Northridge Department of Mathematics. He has also been noted for advocating for rigorous, traditional mathematics instruction in K-12, in opposition to mathematics reform based on NCTM standards, the standards for mathematics education issued in 1989 by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Traditional mathematics, the form of mathematics education that Prof. Klein favors, is conservative and concrete and focuses only on math without going off into tangents about irrelevant subjects, whereas the NCTM standards are very abstract and advocate teaching math while going off onto tangents about irrelevant subjects. The NCTM standards advocate higher math such as algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus as being more important than arithmetic. The NCTM wants to have public elementary schools teach children how to use calculators instead of teaching them arithmetic. The NCTM wants to do this because they think children should pre-algebra, algebra, and geometry at a younger age. Prof. Klein, in contrast, thinks that arithmetic should be taught to elementary school students and that they should not be able to use calculators so that they will be able to master arithmetic. Another difference is that the NCTM thinks that the children should learn math with minimal teacher instruction whereas Prof. Klein thinks that it is important for the teacher to be teaching the math to the children. Another difference is that the NCTM standards allow for multiple correct answers to a single math problem, whereas traditional mathematics only allows for one correct answer. Prof Klein has been a speaker and often quoted in news sources promoting traditional mathematics.