WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MYTHS SURROUNDING JOHN SAXON’S MATH BOOKS?
(Myth 4)
You Must Use the New Saxon Geometry Textbook to Receive Geometry Credit.
Whether I was attending a homeschool convention or browsing the online homeschool blogs, I kept hearing and seeing comments from homeschool parents that express the idea that: “You must use a separate geometry book to receive credit for geometry.”
More than two decades ago, when HMHCO started to publish their separate Geometry textbook, I received an Examination Copy of the new fourth edition Algebra 1 book prepared by the new owners of John Saxon’s Publishing Company. They had gutted the book of all references to geometry. The index had one reference to several pages late in the textbook titled “Geometric Sequences,” but that term refers to an algebraic formula dealing with common ratios – it is not a geometry formula found in any geometry textbook.
Unlike the old second or third editions of Algebra 2, their new fourth edition of Algebra 2 has also had all references to geometry removed from it. Why did the new owners do this? Well I can come up with several reasons:
FIRST: the marketing people would tell you that you make more money from three books than you do from two. Several decades ago, I learned from the Corporate Executives at the company that first bought Saxon Publishers from John’s children in 2004 that they truly believed that “A math book is a math book is a math book.” In my dealings with them as they transitioned John’s Publishing Company into theirs, it was apparent that they failed to realize or accept the uniqueness of John’s math books. To them one math book was just like another. If a particular state did not buy their math book this year another state was switching from someone else’s math book to theirs. So as long as this phenomenon went on why waste profit margin selling a unique math book and explaining or defending its content.
Why? Because the perception was that failure in the math program of any particular public school was never the fault of the teacher; it was always the poor quality of the math book which required switching to more “improved” math books every four to five or so years as math test scores either did not improve or fell. And the publishers would be more than happy to tout their new and improved math textbooks which they said would result in higher test scores. One book publisher even went so far as to openly advertise that since they also published the annual student state math tests and that their books were geared to ensure student success with these mandated state tests.
I recall telling a high school principal several decades ago that it never ceased to amaze me that after a decade or two of schools switching math books every few years – because of low math test scores – that sooner or later school administrators would realize it might be the teachers or the poor quality of the math books responsible for the low test scores. So why not do as everyone else does and create three separate and distinct math books for the algebra one, algebra two, and geometry courses? That not only makes it easier to sell the books, but it increases the quarterly profit margins because of the requirement for the additional geometry book.
SECOND: Some math teachers would tell you that students cannot learn geometry while they are trying to master the algebra. They therefore demand a separate geometry textbook. The second and third editions of John Saxon’s Algebra 2 textbooks contain the equivalent of the first semester of a regular high school geometry textbook – to include rigorous two-column proofs (see the December 2012 news article). But wait! Isn’t it true that students cannot handle the geometry while they are also trying to master the algebra? Not so! European students have been combining algebra geometry and trigonometry in a single math book as long as I can remember. And they consistently come out ahead of us in comparative math comprehension tests.
This myth makes about as much sense as telling a high school student that they cannot take a mandatory sophomore English course while also taking a separate journalism course. So what am I getting at? Must we have a separate geometry textbook for students who cannot handle the geometry and algebra concurrently? Well, let me ask you, if students can successfully study a foreign language while also taking an English course or successfully master a computer programming course while also taking an algebra course, why can’t they study algebra and geometry at the same time, as John Saxon designed it? Must the content be in two separate textbooks taken at two different times in order for the student to master their content?
The geometry concepts encountered in John Saxon’s Algebra 2 textbook – whether the second or third edition – are the equivalent of the first semester material of a regular high school geometry course and that includes a rigorous amount of formal two-column proofs! However, if you choose to use the new fourth edition of Algebra 2, you must also purchase a separate geometry textbook to acquire geometry credit. As I previously mentioned, the new fourth editions of the revised HMHCO Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 textbooks do not contain any geometry concepts.
THIRD: The new fourth editions of Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 – as well as the new first edition of Geometry – do not have a responsible author, and therefore the new owners of John Saxon’s company do not have to pay any royalties! If you look at the inside cover of the new fourth editions of Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 as well as the new first edition of the new Geometry textbooks, you will not be able to find the name(s) of an author or authors of these books. Why? Because they were created by a committee hired by marketing people and the committee that constructed that edition of the algebra textbooks may or may not have had any extensive math or teaching experience. The publishers paid a one-time fee to a “committee” to create the new editions releasing them from paying future royalties to an author.
So, do we blame the profit minded publishers for publishing a separate geometry textbook, or is it the fault of misguided high-minded academicians who – after more than a hundred years – still demand a separate geometry text from the publishers? I am not sure, but thankfully, this decision need not yet face the homeschool educators using John Saxon’s math books. The original homeschool third editions of John Saxon’s Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 textbooks still contain geometry as well as algebra – as does the Advanced Mathematics textbook which follows the Algebra 2 textbook..
Any homeschool student using John Saxon’s homeschool math textbooks who successfully completes Algebra 1, (2nd or 3rd editions), Algebra 2, (2nd or 3rd editions), and at least the first sixty lessons of the Advanced Mathematics (2nd edition) textbook, has covered the same material found in any high school Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Geometry textbook – including two-column formal proofs. Their high school transcripts – as I point out in my book – can accurately reflect a full credit for completion of an Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and a separate Geometry course.
NOTE: Just as you do not record “Smith’s Biology” on the student’s transcript when awarding credit for a year of biology, you should not use Saxon Algebra 1, or Saxon Algebra 2, etc., when recording Saxon math on the student’s transcript either. Just record Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Geometry, etc.
Myths that will be discussed in future news articles:
Sept –Myth 5 – Advanced Mathematics Can be Taken Easily in a Single School Year!
Oct – Myth 6 -You Do Not Have to Finish the Last Twenty or So Lessons in any Saxon Math Book