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To me, math is a skill involving the manipulation of abstract symbols. It doesn't involve sharing, being nice to other kids, helping each other out, or any of that. Those things are great, but they ain't math.
Coincidentally the math stack exchanges are regarded as the most toxic parts of that community.
Re:Who or What Broke My Kids?
by DanielBMarkham on Saturday May 31, 2014 @01:35PM
(#7826594)
You know, the really sad part about this essay is, because the teacher doesn't know what the hell they're teaching, they miss the bigger picture. These kids have been learning-crippled. It's not just math. They're looking for a mechanical process for everything. That's a tragedy. But it's lost in some misguided rant about how math might be involved in what's going on.
Who the hell cares about definitions? Oh right, mathematicians, and they manage to make a beautiful subject terribly boring by insisting it's all about manipulating symbols, instead of the underlying structures they represent.
I mean, programming is about typing and manipulating text into a box, right?
To me, math is a skill involving the manipulation of abstract symbols. It doesn't involve sharing, being nice to other kids, helping each other out, or any of that. Those things are great, but they ain't math.
Now "teaching math in a primary school setting" may involve the combination of all of those things, and that's fine. So I guess we agree. But this essay was terrible. If this teacher came to me with this definition of math as an answer on a test, I'd fail them.