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This! Identical situation in the UK from my experience. Why maths is taught completely separated from its history and its purpose is baffling. Well actually it’

by rcarr 4y ago

This! Identical situation in the UK from my experience. Why maths is taught completely separated from its history and its purpose is baffling. Well actually it’s not: it’s because it serves the teachers. You hammer the formulas and patterns into the kids so they can pass the exams. Your school gets good grades and the principal is happy because he can now market his school as successful and the government inspectors are happy because the school is hitting its metrics. Meanwhile, the kids haven’t actually learned anything. As soon as the exam is passed they forget the formulas and go on with their lives. We should be explaining the story of maths and how it benefitted society. We should be asking kids about their interests and then showing them how mathematical tools can be used in those areas. We need to show kids how maths is tied to real life rather than just presenting them with a boring formulas to memorise.

RugnirViking 4y ago
> because it serves the teachers I don't think this is the case. I think it's because the teachers themselves don't have a good grasp on "the story of maths and how it benefitted society". There is a silly meme about asking high school maths teachers "how will we use this in life", and imo it's not because there isn't a good response, but rather that it requires a good understanding of the ways math is actually used. Few high school teachers have actually themselves used the math they teach for anything other than academic exercise. Someone trained in control theory or using physics equations can make things that appear almost magical using maths, and if they are talented, they can find a way to explain it to laypeople. However, people with that combination of talents are desired by just about everybody, from universities to companies, and high schools simply have no way to compete (not least because teaching high schoolers is a soul-crushing job for bureaucratic reasons)
- rcarr 4y ago
  Yeah this is a very good point. The amount of people who basically go from school to university to school teacher is alarmingly high and bad for society in my opinion. Grown adults who have never known anything but the school system teaching the next generation. It’s ridiculous. I do still think the original point about hitting metrics is a major contributing factor though along with low pay and underfunding.

by rcarr 4y ago

RugnirViking 4y ago

> because it serves the teachers I don't think this is the case. I think it's because the teachers themselves don't have a good grasp on "the story of maths and how it benefitted society". There is a silly meme about asking high school maths teachers "how will we use this in life", and imo it's not because there isn't a good response, but rather that it requires a good understanding of the ways math is actually used. Few high school teachers have actually themselves used the math they teach for anything other than academic exercise. Someone trained in control theory or using physics equations can make things that appear almost magical using maths, and if they are talented, they can find a way to explain it to laypeople. However, people with that combination of talents are desired by just about everybody, from universities to companies, and high schools simply have no way to compete (not least because teaching high schoolers is a soul-crushing job for bureaucratic reasons)

rcarr 4y ago
Yeah this is a very good point. The amount of people who basically go from school to university to school teacher is alarmingly high and bad for society in my opinion. Grown adults who have never known anything but the school system teaching the next generation. It’s ridiculous. I do still think the original point about hitting metrics is a major contributing factor though along with low pay and underfunding.