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Oh no, how dare educators do outreach to the next generation of people who might be interested in their field... > "just teach it head on, and teach it well."

Oh no, how dare educators do outreach to the next generation of people who might be interested in their field... > "just teach it head on, and teach it well." Seriously, as someone who was an assistant-teacher at university for a year, few things annoy me more than people with very strong opinions on education, whose confidence is very clearly based on not knowing the slightest thing about how education works. Good luck trying to brute-force information into unwilling brains. Especially in a form where there is no connection back to the lived experience of the people being taught, meaning they have no point of entry. Or perhaps your point is that we shouldn't do outreach, and only the people who already found maths on their own are allowed into this exclusive club of people who consider themselves oh so intelligent? Like being in favor the mathematicians equivalent of a "gatekeeping hipster" attitude? Honestly, I don't know which interpretation looks worse.

js8 2y ago
I don't think either of those was GP's intent. I think it's more of a lament about anti-intellectual and anti-engineering culture in the U.S. I interpret it that you shouldn't need these gimmicks to get people interested in math, but rather change the system so people would be more interested in those jobs or fields, by making engineers, academics and teachers into more respected members of the society. I am from Czechia and I see this as a feature of neoliberal capitalism. The socialist movement, both in the Western and Eastern bloc, had a lot of emphasis on educating people. China now does something similar. But under neoliberalism, the respect of people is tied to money-making or entrepreneurship. This view, critical of low priority of education under neoliberalism, seems to be shared by many people outside the U.S. today.
- nxobject 2y ago
  I do have a soft spot in my heart for Soviet popular science and mathematics books, especially those that do recreational explorations - anyone of any age can enjoy them, but to someone young enough I’m sure they would’ve been totally engrossing.

js8 2y ago

I don't think either of those was GP's intent. I think it's more of a lament about anti-intellectual and anti-engineering culture in the U.S. I interpret it that you shouldn't need these gimmicks to get people interested in math, but rather change the system so people would be more interested in those jobs or fields, by making engineers, academics and teachers into more respected members of the society. I am from Czechia and I see this as a feature of neoliberal capitalism. The socialist movement, both in the Western and Eastern bloc, had a lot of emphasis on educating people. China now does something similar. But under neoliberalism, the respect of people is tied to money-making or entrepreneurship. This view, critical of low priority of education under neoliberalism, seems to be shared by many people outside the U.S. today.

nxobject 2y ago
I do have a soft spot in my heart for Soviet popular science and mathematics books, especially those that do recreational explorations - anyone of any age can enjoy them, but to someone young enough I’m sure they would’ve been totally engrossing.