A Mathematician's Lament — an Indictment of US Math Education

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Friday June 19, 2009 @06:05AM from the beating-the-joy-out-of-education dept.

Scott Aaronson recently had "A Mathematician's Lament" [PDF], Paul Lockhardt's indictment of K-12 math education in the US, pointed out to him and takes some time to examine the finer points. "Lockhardt says pretty much everything I've wanted to say about this subject since the age of twelve, and does so with the thunderous rage of an Old Testament prophet. If you like math, and more so if you think you don't like math, I implore you to read his essay with every atom of my being. Which is not to say I don't have a few quibbles [...] In the end, Lockhardt's lament is subversive, angry, and radical ... but if you know anything about math and anything about K-12 'education' (at least in the United States), I defy you to read and find a single sentence that isn't permeated, suffused, soaked, and encrusted with truth."

2 of 677 comments (clear)

Re:Several Proxies by Gerzel · 2009-06-19 06:38 · Score: 0, Troll

2 + 2 = Jesus and that is all they need to know!
Re:A teachers take by Anonymous Coward · 2009-06-19 07:50 · Score: 0, Troll

We recognize it, reward it, and care for it like a price flower.
Maybe you, as a teacher, should learn the difference between "price" and "prized".

the effort of the students should be the focus of rewards
What, "you tried hard but got everything wrong, here's an A anyway"??
Jeebus. The real world doesn't operate anything like that.
Not failing kids who should have failed is the problem.