What Math Should Teachers Know?

This is a post with an evergreen subject.  I know, because I wrote a June 2005 post on the same topic.  Fast-forward 13 1/2 years, and Joanne has a similar post.  The same problem is identified, the same reasons given for why teacher candidates, college graduates all, should not have to demonstrate even the most basic numeracy.

As is so often the case, the comments are as entertaining as the blog post itself is interesting.  My favorite one from Joanne's post:

It wasn’t OK for Teen Talk Barbie to say “Math class is tough!”, so I’m not buying “math is hard” from grown adults.

Update: Just stumbled across this post from earlier this year.  It's related to the above only in that it discusses math, but this sentence is revealing:  "I'm tired of being told how to teach math by people who weren't (or aren't) good at math."  I closed with the following:

No one suggests teaching music like this.  No one says that learning scales is too boring, that young musicians should dig into concertos.  No one suggests coaching football like this.  No one says that drills are too boring, that players should go straight to touchdown-making plays.  No one suggests that a student's first time behind the wheel should be during rush hour traffic.  In fact, I'm hard-pressed to come up with examples of areas outside of math where such recommendations are expected to be taken seriously.  Why do you think that is? 

Maybe Teen Talk Barbie was right after all.