Re:An alarming trend in K-12 math education: a guest post an...
by tzs on Friday December 03, 2021 @03:57PM
(#29435332)
A somewhat similar point is expressed in Underwood Dudley's article "What is Mathematics For?" from the May 2010 Notices of the AMS [1].
Briefly, he argues that we greatly exaggerate how much math you actually need in ordinary life and in most jobs that people usually think of as needing math (and what you do actually need can be learned on the job), but nevertheless learning math is worthwhile and important because of what it teaches you about how to think.
It's hard to imagine now, but back in the early days of the US similar debates played out over teaching arithmetic in schools. Most people didn't need more than counting and simple addition and subtraction, so why make everyone learn any more than that? Those few who meeded more could learn it outside of school.
Briefly, he argues that we greatly exaggerate how much math you actually need in ordinary life and in most jobs that people usually think of as needing math (and what you do actually need can be learned on the job), but nevertheless learning math is worthwhile and important because of what it teaches you about how to think.
It's hard to imagine now, but back in the early days of the US similar debates played out over teaching arithmetic in schools. Most people didn't need more than counting and simple addition and subtraction, so why make everyone learn any more than that? Those few who meeded more could learn it outside of school.
[1] http://www.ams.org/notices/201005/rtx100500608p.pdf