In Spring Grove, a hot topic of conversation these days is a Japanese import called Kumon. Kumon is not a new kind of sports car or sushi, nor is it a film by Akira Kurosawa. Instead, it`s a controversial technique for teaching math.
Spring Grove Elementary is the only school in the state to use Kumon. It is conducting a pilot program this semester in four classes. If the experiment succeeds, the technique will be used by the entire school system-and perhaps start a trend for other local schools.
Kumon was developed in the 1950s by a Japanese math instructor named Toru Kumon, who at the time was living in America but was so dismayed by his son`s math instruction that he developed his own packets of materials for him. In 1958 he opened a training center in Osaka, and now there are centers in 18 countries, with close to 2 million students enrolled.
The concept behind Kumon is a simple back-to-basics approach. Each day each child is given a packet of math problems to solve, anywhere from 50 to 200 of them. The questions are straightforward, fill-in-the-blanks, such as:
17 + 14
—– (for 3rd graders)
or
27 + 65
—– (for 6th graders.
Most students finish their daily packet in 10 to 20 minutes. The students can take as long as needed to complete the problems, but if they take too long or make too many mistakes, they need to complete similar packets the following days until they are able to get the answers accurately and quickly. Students do not move on to another unit until they have mastered the previous one.
If you`re wondering what could possibly be controversial about a method like Kumon, then you`re not in tune with what`s going on these days in pedagogy, where buzzwords like ”higher-order thinking skills” are all the rage. Much of current educational theory de-emphasizes the learning of facts as such and instead promotes the development of effective learning strategies. Even at Spring Grove, Kumon was not immediately accepted. Principal Mary Davis said, ”Initially I was a little concerned when the Kumon project was first presented to me. After all, I thought, at a time when we`re focusing on higher-level thinking, why go back to drills?”
Nonetheless, Davis agreed to teacher Roberta Stark`s request to pilot Kumon, which is funded by the school, and she is glad she did. ”Since we`ve started with Kumon I have seen a significant difference in student self-esteem,” Davis said. ”Because they have to get 100 percent mastery to move on, the children feel good about themselves when they finish each unit.” In addition, Davis said that Kumon has lessened ”the fear younger children often have when they first come to math.”
Certainly the students in Roberta Stark`s 3rd-grade class exhibit little math anxiety. When she announces that it is Kumon time, the normal
distractions and disruptions that a room full of 8-year olds can produce suddenly cease as the day`s packets are passed out.
About the only sound is two boys engaged in some friendly Kumon rivalry.
”I have 11 problems on each page,” says John Gruber. As Stark later explained, the boys take pride in whoever gets the most questions per sheet.
”I have 12,” counters Bryan Regnier.
”I have 13,” says John, exhibiting some higher-order thinking skills.
Then Stark gives the children the order to start, and whereas seconds before the kids were poking each other, fidgeting in their seats and looking all around the room, when Kumon time begins they are sharply focused. The room becomes almost preternaturally quiet.
One by one, as the students finish their packets and turn them in, the room grows louder and louder, until 15 minutes later it`s like any other 3rd- grade class again. But during that quiet time, it was obvious that the students were thinking carefully and were even-dare it be said about a math class?-enjoying themselves.
When the Kumon packets are worked on, there`s none of the usual wailing and gnashing of teeth that usually accompany the giving of a test in a class. On the contrary, ”The children like Kumon because it gives them a chance to be successful,” said Stark, who learned of Kumon when she saw it presented on Cable News Network. ”Students usually score between 95 and 100 percent on each packet, and it makes them feel competent-for maybe the first time ever-about math.”
Students are able to do so well using Kumon because the Kumon technique starts students out several math levels below where they are currently. In Stark`s regular math class, the students are working on addition of three digit numbers, but during Kumon, the students are just adding one and two digit numbers, material many of them covered in 1st grade.
Likewise, Mrs. Anne O`Donnell`s group of 4th and 5th graders are covering material in Kumon that many of the students had in 2nd grade. But this type of placement is an integral part of the Kumon philosophy, and it`s a move that, depending on one`s point of view, is either a stroke of genius or a terrible mistake.
As Matt Lupsha, regional manager for the Kumon Educational Institute, a for-profit company that sells the program, explained, Kumon purposely places children a couple of years below their current math level to develop their self-esteem and their math confidence. ”We put them at a level where we know they`ll have success, because if they feel successful, after a while they`ll start to feel good about math.”
Parents are shocked initially by how easy the first few Kumon units are. And even the children, especially the older ones, are initially hesitant to embrace Kumon. In Eileen Hazel`s 6th-grade class, several students complain that Kumon is ”too boring because it is so easy.” According to Hazel,
”These older kids can be especially resistant because to them the review material seems like baby stuff. But they need this review. I was amazed by how many students still count on their hands at this age. With Kumon, they get to know the basics so well that they no longer need to use their fingers to count.”
Part of the Kumon method is to explain to students, and their parents, why the review is necessary. As the Kumon manual says, ”The Kumon approach can be likened to a brick wall-when the foundations are solidly and accurately laid, the wall grows without hesitation. Should that foundation be inadequate, the higher the wall, the more unstable it becomes.”
Kumon begins with what the student already knows well and builds from there. The packets become almost imperceptibly harder with each day, as new material is slowly introduced. ”Usually within six months, though, ” said Stark, ”the students are back to their normal math level. And from then on they continue to proceed at their own pace.”
About the only drawback the teachers see to Kumon is the enormous amount of record-keeping involved. Each day they must record each student`s time and accuracy level and prepare each student`s packet for the next day. However, the teachers are aided by parent volunteers who correct each day`s
assignments.
They are also aided by the enthusiasm of the students, like 6th grader Curtis Able, who said that Kumon ”helps to patch up my mistakes.” And during the recent Illinois State Achievement Test period, Stark was amazed that some of her students were actually looking forward to the math portion of the test. The Spring Grove students are the latest additions to a growing number of Kumon Kids. In the United States, about 28,000 students are using the Kumon method. Most of these are receiving their schooling at private training centers, a number of which are in the Chicago area. Costs for Kumon are $5 per month per student at a public school, and $60 a month per student for private lessons. For information, contact Kumon`s Arlington Heights office at 708-640-8384.
