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kerry · #7 05-23-2007, 12:03 PM

I may be completely off base on this, but I think that math skills are partly hard wired. Some people have a much easier time understanding math than others. It doesn't mean that everyone can't understand it, it just means the effort to understand it is very different. It's like the hull speed of a boat. It doesn't take much effort to get a boat to hull speed, but to get the boat to climb the bow wave, exceed hull speed and plane requires a huge increase in horsepower. For some people to do math, it's like trying to plane a boat.

So, I think we are not shrewd enough in math education. We definitely want everyone who easily understands math to do so, but it's possible that we could have college educated productive people, with basic level math skills. So I think we should make it possible that colleges deal with math like they deal with art. A student can take an Art History course, 'understand' art, but not necessarily have to produce a good painting. It should be the same way with math. Students should be able to take a Math History course so they can understand its importance but without having to solve dozens of complex Calculus problems. This would mean that instead of producing hundreds of college graduates with intense resentment to math courses which they will then pass on to their children, they will understand the importance of math, but realize that not everyone has to do it at highly competent levels.