As a person who does some math, I disagree with this article. I agree with the author that mathematics is the language of abstraction, but do not think that sch

As a person who does some math, I disagree with this article. I agree with the author that mathematics is the language of abstraction, but do not think that school mathematics should put abstract before the concrete. One would think that the failure of "New Math" of the 1960s would have been enough: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wHDn8LDks8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wHDn8LDks8 [Tom Lehrer, "New Math"] Just because something is abstract and more general does not necessarily imply that it is more insightful than concrete calculations. I feel that abstract mathematics should be confined to higher education. A good antidote to such articles are these by legendary mathematicians: http://pauli.uni-muenster.de/~munsteg/arnold.html http://pauli.uni-muenster.de/~munsteg/arnold.html [V. I. Arnold] http://ega-math.narod.ru/LSP/ch1.htm http://ega-math.narod.ru/LSP/ch1.htm [L. S. Pontryagin]