A Mathematician's Lament

[jrtom]

http://www.metafilter.com/70699/A-Mathematicians-Lament

Haven't read it yet (placeholder) but it looks interesting. (And I agree that mathematics is often taught poorly, e.g., the curricula are generally structured so that unless you go to a lot of trouble (i.e., take math in college) you get the impression that math is limited to arithmetic, geometry, algebra, trigonometry, and calculus..._none_ of which are what I spend most of my time doing when I'm doing mathematics. Probability and statistics? Graph theory? Combinatorics? Algorithm design, analysis, and optimization? Yes, some of these require some bits of the others as prerequisites...but seriously, let's at least give HS students a _taste_ of what else is out there.)

Comments

[hypgnosis.livejournal.com]

OK, I just followed the link, and read the entire PDF. It's a very good critique (if a bit intense and ranty) of the modern American K-12 mathematics curriculum. I certainly do not agree with everything that the author is saying, but he makes several good points that any good math teacher already knows, and almost no one else does. Worth a read for any mathematician or educator. (Plus, hey, heaping abuse on overly-formal proofs!)