4 ms·
One of my ex-colleagues (in his 40s, and is exceptionally good in programming) continues to learn new stuff every day - often I'd find him learning some obscure
by vijayr 15y ago
One of my ex-colleagues (in his 40s, and is exceptionally good in programming) continues to learn new stuff every day - often I'd find him learning some obscure programming language or algorithm, which he'd never ever use in his "day job" or "profession". I asked him why he does that, knowing well that he'd never use that knowledge - his answer was "you don't need to directly use everything you learn. the more you learn, the better you entire thinking faculty develops, and you'll solve your existing problems better/quicker".
Just because basic calculus (or other math) isn't used in our everyday life, doesn't mean it is wasteful to learn it. So yeah, I'm tired of that line too.
- marshray 15y agoBut it wouldn't even be calculus in 10th grade. In 10th grade most kids have done a year of algebra and are doing plane geometry along with simple proofs. That must be it: the scientific sample of people he described the test contents too did not use proofs in their work. Therefore, introducing mathematical logic in 10th grade is not going to prepare students for the high-tech jobs of the future. Brilliant!
- learc83 15y agoFrom what I've seen from tutoring 3 younger siblings in math throughout their high school days, I think they should spend the first 3 years of high school drilling Algebra into their heads. Then in the last year they can spend half a year on geometry and half a year on trig. From what I've seen the biggest problems my sibs had with higher math wasn't the higher math, it was the algebra underlying it. They get one year of Algebra in 8th grade and the move on to Geometry assuming they have mastered it, but they havent.
- kalid 15y agoI agree. I'd rather people graduate high school actually knowing algebra than pretending to know calculus.
- flatline 15y agoWe have quite the conundrum in this country: not enough qualified workers for high tech jobs, and a strong resistance to teaching kids the skills to do those jobs. I think it's going to take a major cultural shift for us to move past this and have parents demanding their kids learn more math and science. There seems to be an incipient movement in this direction but man is there a lot of inertia!
- nekojima 15y ago"a strong resistance to teaching kids the skills to do those jobs" There is a strong resistance from the kids because its either boring, too hard or not explained in a way that is relevant to them to see how it can be applied. This is among the main reasons why in the US the number of SMT college/uni graduates has not increased since 1980, while humanities has more than doubled.