A different view on math in school

In some of my readings this week, I came across this paper (click for PDF). It’s 25 pages long, but thouroughly enjoyable – at least to me. I think many of his points ring true. Having been through the progression he outlines towards the end (at or about page 24) and farther (Calculus, Statistics for Math majors, Differential Equations, etc.), I can attest to some of the oddities that the author presents with wit.

To this day, I enjoy math problems (particularly geometry, so the author’s geometry bent tugs at me) – I still do them at my whiteboard in the office (although, recently, it’s been spherical trigonometry which is a bit more complex). My daughter is reading a mystery book where the Fibonacci series (or numbers) plays a role. I spent 15 minutes talking to her about a summer camp I went to right before high school where I learned about the Fibonacci series, the Golden ratio, Franz Liszt and snails in a single lecture. That’s probably safer to leave for a future post. Needless to say, we are likely not teaching math (and science) in such a way that enthralls or excites children. These subjects have largely become rote and boring and lead students to spend more time deciding what artwork they can decorate their Lewis diagrams with rather than enjoy the subject matter. Maybe the educational system is ready for a shake up?

GorT

GorT is an eight-foot-tall robot from the 51ˢᵗ Century who routinely time-travels to steal expensive technology from the future and return it to the past for retroinvention. The profits from this pay all the Gormogons’ bills, including subsidizing this website. Some of the products he has introduced from the future include oven mitts, the Guinness widget, Oxy-Clean, and Dr. Pepper. Due to his immense cybernetic brain, GorT is able to produce a post in 0.023 seconds and research it in even less time. Only ’Puter spends less time on research. GorT speaks entirely in zeros and ones, but occasionally throws in a ڭ to annoy the Volgi. He is a massive proponent of science, technology, and energy development, and enjoys nothing more than taking the Czar’s more interesting scientific theories, going into the past, publishing them as his own, and then returning to take credit for them. He is the only Gormogon who is capable of doing math. Possessed of incredible strength, he understands the awesome responsibility that follows and only uses it to hurt people.