3 ms·

Reminds me of Lockhart's Lament (https://www.maa.org/external_archive/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf https://www.maa.org/external_archive/devlin/LockhartsLament....

by j7ake 8y ago

Reminds me of Lockhart's Lament (https://www.maa.org/external_archive/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf https://www.maa.org/external_archive/devlin/LockhartsLament....). Lockhart has a description of an analogous world where music education from K-12 is pushed as important and all kids must learn it to do well in the world. The kids are educated by music teachers who have never wrote or have any deep connection with music. Kids are rewarded for filling in note correctly on a scoresheet and doing difficult things such as transposing music to one key to another, but they never learn to write or play music.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
wyldfire 8y ago
> “Oh we don’t actually apply paint until high school,” I was told by the students. ... “So your students don’t actually do any painting?” I asked. “Well, next year they take Pre Paint-by-Numbers. That prepares them for the main Paint-by-Numbers sequence in high school. This was worth a chuckle. I recall taking pre-calculus/calculus in high school from a particularly passionate teacher. He really enjoyed his job and I felt like I got a greater appreciation for mathematics from his teaching. He did live graphing of equations with a then-novel overhead-transparency peripheral display for his computer. He included lots of practical engineering applications. After reflecting on this article I wonder if he were unconstrained in the curriculum whether he would've been yet more inspiring still.
agumonkey 8y ago
Some French education researchers / teachers had a saying: "if riding a bike was taught at school, no one would know how to do" People naturally learn things at the right dose and context. Music is a huge pleasure and desire. And music school doesn't really teach you music, it barely put you on rails and keep you digging in music for 5+ years (which makes one learn anything). They don't teach you what groove/swing/funk means (it's not even described except with informal tags). I had the same sense about maths. You go through the motion, but the actual thinking process, the reasoning behind even ~obvious notions like variable, equality, finite domains .. You have to read books about history to know that.

by j7ake 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

wyldfire 8y ago

> “Oh we don’t actually apply paint until high school,” I was told by the students. ... “So your students don’t actually do any painting?” I asked. “Well, next year they take Pre Paint-by-Numbers. That prepares them for the main Paint-by-Numbers sequence in high school. This was worth a chuckle. I recall taking pre-calculus/calculus in high school from a particularly passionate teacher. He really enjoyed his job and I felt like I got a greater appreciation for mathematics from his teaching. He did live graphing of equations with a then-novel overhead-transparency peripheral display for his computer. He included lots of practical engineering applications. After reflecting on this article I wonder if he were unconstrained in the curriculum whether he would've been yet more inspiring still.

agumonkey 8y ago

Some French education researchers / teachers had a saying: "if riding a bike was taught at school, no one would know how to do" People naturally learn things at the right dose and context. Music is a huge pleasure and desire. And music school doesn't really teach you music, it barely put you on rails and keep you digging in music for 5+ years (which makes one learn anything). They don't teach you what groove/swing/funk means (it's not even described except with informal tags). I had the same sense about maths. You go through the motion, but the actual thinking process, the reasoning behind even ~obvious notions like variable, equality, finite domains .. You have to read books about history to know that.