CPM: Help or Harm?
Story by Andrew Han & James Lee
Edited by Junie Kah
Design by Helaine Lee
Edited by Junie Kah
Design by Helaine Lee
CPM has been in SIS’s curriculum for almost two years. Also known as College Preparatory Mathematics, CPM aims to get students ready for college entrance examinations such as the SATs and ACTs. However, it is evident that controversy surrounding CPM is present throughout the SIS community. For example, Camden Lee (8) directly states, “I do not like CPM because it hinders our learning efforts.”
CPM was founded in 1989 as a math project. The main purpose of CPM was to create textbooks and help students understand math problems through teamwork. CPM received polarized reviews and went on as a non-profit organization whose textbooks were used by many schools and teachers. When CPM was first put into the SIS curriculum, very few students actually enjoyed the program. Many didn’t like the program because of its slow-paced progress and over-reliance on teamwork. Unfortunately, this year was filled with complaints. People were bickering about CPM, and condemned the program. Out of many possible reasons, one was because of lack of explanation. An eighth grader who requested to be anonymous criticizes, “CPM doesn't teach us anything. There are (little to) no explanations of the concept in the textbook.” Another reason is because of unorthodox methods of teaching such as the use of algebra tiles. “Honestly, I think that algebra tiles are only good for a visual representation. Learning algebra on paper is much easier,” states Arthur Kim (8). The amount of dislike towards CPM in many different aspects surpasses last year. Surprisingly, there are still a group people who don’t feel as much animosity towards CPM. Christopher Shin (7) protests, “CPM provides great teamwork exercises, but the book itself doesn’t teach too well.” Some students testify that slow progress is necessary in order for a student to understand a concept completely. Other students who also support CPM said that teamwork in Math is crucial because later on there are concepts so complicated that it is almost impossible for you to do everything. Currently, the opinions are heavily shifted towards those who think CPM does more harm than good. Despite the popular opinion, the school has no plans to change CPM. |
Two samples of a CPM problem. Note that the Homework Help button is present throughout all of the problems.
[Source: CPM Textbook] This is an example of a student using the homework help in CPM. One problem with CPM is that it frequently gives away the answer.
[Photograph by James Lee] These are algebra tiles. Many dislike algebra tiles because learning algebra is much easier and faster by doing the work by hand. [Source: Assessment Services]
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