Suresh Ramasubramanian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > The Washington Post on the "value" of algebra. While I have some > > sympathy for the individuals mentioned, I do not agree with this > > position, and I think that one can hardly be surprised at the drop > in > > scientific literacy in the US (inter alia) if this is a widespread > > mindset. The repercussions are left as an exercise for the reader. > > A lot of people have no further use for maths (let alone algebra, > calculus and whatever else) after school than to balance a checkbook. > Let us not even speak of nuclear physics or organic chemistry. > > And they can be journalists. They can even be good programmers. They > can > be lots of other things that just dont need any of that stuff. > > Let us not confuse that with the debate on intelligent design.
? "Intelligent Design" wasn't what I was talking about in this particular case. I was using the following chain of causality, borrowed from Gary Stix: "Algebra is worthless" => no algebra skills => no calculus (e.g) => no science => no technology => even more outsourcing of the entire high tech industry (I should just say "industry" and have done with it) Again, to be clear: My comment was that if enough people in the US (e.g) are aligned with the mindset described in the referenced article, then the future of science and technology is not looking rosy there. Udhay
