This is a great article on the failures of K-12 mathematics education. Descartes would be ashamed.
The thought process so essential to math has been all but eradicated in school. We are taught not to think philosophically (math is philosophical!); but to take in formula after formula, and find new way to spit them out through exercises and word problems. I especially enjoyed the section on proofs- the bane of all geometry students' existence! They create an illusion of the process that goes into thinking mathematically, but are really something else entirely. Geometry proofs once again involve the memorization of removed postulates, and finding inaccessible and uninteresting ways to "solve a problem".
What is sad is that we are all asked to wait eleven or twelve years to find out if we are ready to think mathematically. We can not be trusted with our innate ability to reason until we have taken in numerous rules and formulas that we have no understanding of.
Anne, this is awesome! I totally agree that math is philosophical. It's everywhere in our world and beautiful in its presence. There's a reason math is a "way of knowing" in Theory of Knowledge class; it is so much more than formulas and memorization. I am probably biased because I am a huge math nerd, but I wish more kids were taught from a young age how beautiful mathematics truly is. Thanks for posting :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! I found math exciting when I was little, but some time around 8th grade I really started to dread it. I kind of gave up on myself because I "wasn't a math person." There's an attitude many people have about math that it's something you get or you don't, which ends up discouraging people who may enjoy it! I think a lot more people would appreciate mathematics if the creativity and critical thinking that goes into it was better reflected in schools.
ReplyDeleteTrue! I really liked this post, because, like you said, I would consider myself to be an individual whose desire and love for math was stunted at an early age simply because I experienced poor teachers and a lack of encouragement to pursue it at home. I love the idea of math though, particularly the structure it provides to our world and thought processes. Math is completely philosophical...in fact, last year in ToK we actually spent a class talking about the possibility that math is not a learned subject but rather, a theory on the universe- one that cannot be proved or disproved. It is a philosophy. Interesting though, thanks so much for posting it!
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