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Wow, that's a really bold statement. Do you have a proof of that?

• Double_Cast 13y ago
  "great" is a superlative. His statement an opinion. But I imagine he knows what he's talking about since he has a PHD in math. [1] [1] http://jeremykun.com/about/ http://jeremykun.com/about/
• j2kun 13y ago
  This comes from my interactions with colleagues at my own undergraduate institution. So it's biased evidence, but my institution was also one of California's largest math teaching credential programs, so I think it's a reasonable sample. I can't say how many times my 'teaching concentration' colleagues would look at a basic linear algebra problem (which requires a proof) and whine saying things like, "I don't care about this stuff, it's so stupid and pointless, I just want to get my degree so I can go teach high school math." All irony aside, these are the students who actually enjoyed the structure of high school math, and were rudely awakened when they were asked to apply their minds to reason. As a result, 'teaching concentrations' in undergraduate and graduate school usually provide mathematically watered down courses and automatic passing grades, and the teachers-in-training don't learn anything new. They certainly don't learn, for example, any mathematics that has been done since 1900, or any open problems that aren't Millenium Prize Problems. And god forbid they ask and try to answer an original question (as they expect their students to do when they're confused). This is what they mean by the "blind leading the blind."