On 13 Aug 2011, at 22:16, [email protected] wrote:
By not teaching math to kids, we are dumbing down the next
generation. Of course, most people do not have a talent for math,
but then most people do not have a talent for writing either. A few
hundered years ago, only a small fraction of the population was
taught to read and write. If you had proposed hat everyone should
learn it, you would have been ridiculed.
The argument that we shouldn't teach math to children because it
isn't of direct use to most people, is a nonsensical argument. We
don't apply that argument to any school subject, except to math and
physics (perhaps also astronomy, we don't teach anything about that
in school).
So, while there isn't much practical use in knowing a lot about
Europe in the Middle ages, we do spend quite a lot of time about
this subject already in primary school. This does add a lot to the
cultural baggage of children as they grow up. You can make the same
argument about astronomy, physics and math. Surely, being able to
understand at some appropriate level how the elements were formed in
stars, how the Sun formed etc. etc. would add a lot to the general
background of citizens.
If people would not learn about history, literature, etc. a lot of
our culture would de-facto go to waste. If no one knows about the
works of Shakespeare, then it wouldn't matter if Shakespeare had not
bothered to write his plays.
In case of math and physics, we are actually in this sort of a
situation. The great masses are scientific illiterates, most of the
scientific achievements, even the ancient ones are inaccesible to
most, simply because we choose not teach science in schools, beyond
the very basics.
This does have some negative consequences for society. E.g. most
people cannot see through the nonsensical arguments put forward by
climate change deniers, the position people have on this is then
determined by their political color, (particularly in the US as
there the Republican party mostly denies global warming caused by
man).
I can only agree with you. Math is not taught enough, and not in the
best spirit.
And we pay the hard price.
I think that something like prohibition would not even exist if people
were taught a bit of logic, or at least would not last for long.
Sometimes I got the feeling that this absence of teaching is made on
purpose to help demagogy and manipulation.
Many want the human science as non rigorous at all, so thy can offer
position arbitrary, in some rotten academies. The lack of math, and
the (artificial) separation between human and exact sciences, helps a
lot. But in fine it makes the exact and the human sciences both
inhuman and inexact.
It is a pity that politics and media are not independent, but now
politics and academy are neither too, as your examples and others
suggest.
Bruno
Citeren Pilar Morales <[email protected]>:
I agree that math should probably not be taught in school, but
algebra. In
elementary school. But, all the student's questions would lead to
math...
On Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 11:33 AM, John Mikes <[email protected]>
wrote:
After a resounding "NO" the question: "who's math?" I find it
absolutely
inevitable to include in the obligatory general school curriculum "a
certain" math, necessary to calculate, to balance a check-book, to
file a
tax return, to make (basic) business accounting and the practical
'figuring
out' of life's quantitative aspects. Not the Euler theorem, or a
Cauchy
integral. Also a glimps of concepts like imaginary, complex,
infinite,
calculus, etc. not to the level of application, but at least to a
dictionary
identification.
I find it belonging to a general educational level, way above of the
average newscast<G>.
There are many kids with definite 'antitalent' for math, they
should not be
tortured, just taught conceptually. It should not be a go/no go
for college,
in general. Somebody can write beautiful historic poems, paint, or
write a
symphony without calculus-knowledge.
A heart-surgeon can operate without knowing the math of a
pacemaker-physics.
And it may be a 'godsend' if economists would not be
mathematicians, rather
normal, logical people.
Anyway the "pretty girls" are no real authorities in the question.
On Fri, Aug 12, 2011 at 10:03 PM, meekerdb <[email protected]>
wrote:
**
Are you the kind of person who knows math?
http://videosift.com/video/Miss-USA-2011-Should-Math-Be-Taught-In-Schools
Brent
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