1.05.2004
The future of math education
[Posted 8:34 AM by Roger Kimball]
A friend sent us this meditation on–and prognostican
about–the teaching of mathematics in the United States:
This is an exercise in the intellectual approach to mathematics as
viewed by the educational system in the United States dating from 1950
through the present and projected into the year 2010 . . . .
It should be especially of interest to those of you who are
educators, school board officials, ex-Arthur Andersen CPA’s,
environmentalists, Spanish teachers, commodities
speculators, anyone who ever took a math class,
psychotherapists, the legal system, stock market fraud,
etc.!Teaching Math in 1950:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of
production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?Teaching Math in 1960:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of
production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?Teaching Math in 1970:
A logger exchanges a set L of lumber for a set M of money. The
cardinality of set M is 100. Each element is worth one dollar. Make 100 dots
representing the elements of the set M. The set C, the cost of production,
contains 20 fewer points than the set M. Represent the set C
as a subset of set M and answer the following question: What is the
cardinality of the set P of profits?Teaching Math in 1980:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber of $100. His cost of
production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: underline the
number 20.Teaching Math in 1990:
By cutting down beautiful forest trees, the logger makes $20. What
do you think of this way of making a living? What’s wrong about it?
Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the forest
birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down the trees? (There are no
wrong answers).Teaching Math in 2000:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of
production is $120. How does Arthur Andersen determine that his profit
margin is $60. And, how many documents were shredded to achieve this number?Teaching Math in 2010:
El Loggero se habla with the truckero y se ponen de acuerdo con
otro driver de la conpentencia y etc. . .