A Mathematician's Lament

[JBroll]

http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf

This article is probably the best explanation of what's wrong with 'math education' that I've ever seen, and if you've ever wondered why math classes suck, why American students can't do math, or even why you don't like the 'math' you saw in school then this is simply essential reading. There's nothing really I can say to add to this, so I'm just going to let the article speak for itself.

Jeff

 

[Metaltastic]

Currently on page 8, and while I salute his clearly perceptible passion and enthusiasm, I still don't quite get how math can be a "beautiful form of artistic self-expression"; I see what he means by just teaching formulas and applying them to different scenarios as "exercises" (and how fucking boring that is), but I just can't see math being any other way, except with like word problems, where you have to do some interpretation yourself, assigning variables and trying to quantify all the factors in the problem and stuff. Still, I feel like I'm not missing much in my life having left math thoroughly behind me since 1st semester freshman year of college, but I'll read on...

 

[Chryst Krispies]

I've never felt a really STRONG affinity for math, but I've always done well with it in school, and I do enjoy the feeling I get when I finish a test or a problem and just look at it.... Like I just conquered a small sea village and I've reaped the spoils of gold, artifacts and pretty ladies.

 

[JBroll]

The reason mathematics isn't seen as an art is perfectly clear as soon as you imagine what would happen if music were not about expression but about constructing arbitrary lines of useless, pointless notation for the sake of satisfying useless 'standardized tests' just to torture children. The language of mathematics was not set in stone by some ancient kings for memorization and arbitrary manipulation, it came about because nothing else could hold ideas so powerful, universal, and beautiful - just as you write music not for the sake of disturbing wood, metal, and air molecules meaninglessly but to convey ideas that simply cannot fit anywhere else.

Mathematics (as mathematicians do it, not as educators destroy it) is creating something more alive and permanent than anything else we have ever encountered to see what it can do. Sure, there are applications - in the same way that all of history's brilliant painters could also color walls, if so inclined - but mathematics exists to answer questions and study perfection for its own sake.

Jeff

 

[Metaltastic]

Yeah, that's what I'm gathering now that he's finally stopped bitching and actually started suggesting what he would rather see (giving more abstract problems before necessarily giving all the techniques that could be used to solve them, so kids can actually work their brains a bit); I hate when people just complain and never offer any solutions, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised he'd take awhile to offer his when the article is 25 pages! Still reading...

 

[JBroll]

There is simply no way to show how many things are wrong with the state of our education in less than 100 pages - he has done incredibly well by fitting so many massive things into merely a quarter of that.

Jeff

 

[abyssofdreams]

amazing how that article reflects our "system" too, interesting read

 

[Metaltastic]

Yeah, somehow I doubt America is unique in that view of math!

 

[P-E]

As a high school student, I can testify this is a very, very thought-provoking read.
I'm at page 5 now and it's getting more and more interesting.

 

[P-E]

Thanks Jeff for this article, which as proven to me what I thought since the beginning : In relation to mathematics, we, the students, must think by ourselves and find creative solutions to problems ourselves, analyzing the genius and beauty of it all ourselves, because the curriculum, program or however you want to call it simply teaches us a mess of formulas, variables, shapes, solids and lines, most of which we will never use in practice in our lives.

 

[Jeds7800]

Thanks Jeff for this article, which has proven to me what I thought since the beginning

+1

 

[J.DavisNJ]

I still need to read this, but I agree completely.

Our system completely sucks and is getting more watered down by the day. In high school, I never focused much on math, but was never really motivated by my teachers to do so. You either had it or you didn't. Sucks. I wish I was pushed to do better in such subjects, because I would have studied something more worthwhile in college, such as engineering.

Instead, I was an idiot and chose a bullshit liberal arts degree in history which I regret to this day. It's the reason I'm in the current job I have that I hate.

No offense to anyone here, but liberal arts degrees & universities, for the most part, are a huge waste of money. No wonder my state school was overpopulated with IDIOTS. It's perfect cash making scheme. You graduate with a degree that is essentially useless, (again there are exceptions and it ultimately depends on the degree), and waste your first two years studying BULLSHIT.

Also, my university was SO biased in political classes it's not even funny.

-Joe

 

[dan weapon]

http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf
...or even why you don't like the 'math' you saw in school...

Does it go into explicit detail about why the maths teacher I had in high school was a complete bell-end?

I enjoy maths from a problem-solving-every-day-scenarios perspective, but at school I hated endless calculations and formulas that wouldn't help me AT ALL in real life unless I was doing something extremely maths-based.

 

[egan.]

No offense to anyone here, but liberal arts degrees & universities, for the most part, are a huge waste of money. No wonder my state school was overpopulated with IDIOTS. It's perfect cash making scheme. You graduate with a degree that is essentially useless, (again there are exceptions and it ultimately depends on the degree), and waste your first two years studying BULLSHIT.

-Joe

I actually agree with this to a certain extent (Check it out! Joe and I agree on something!). I think there was a period in time when a college degree actually meant something on it's own and you could study your interests and still get a job. Not anymore unless you are ready for ten years in school or you do something else.

 

[J.DavisNJ]

I actually agree with this to a certain extent (Check it out! Joe and I agree on something!). I think there was a period in time when a college degree actually meant something on it's own and you could study your interests and still get a job. Not anymore unless you are ready for ten years in school or you do something else.

It must be a full moon! Haha. It's cool though...I think you are more closely aligned politically than others on the forum. You are a edit: libertarian, if I remember correctly??

It really depends on the degree and field. For example, my university has an excellent nursing program, which my sister attended. Before graduating, she was given job offers by every major hospital around. She made $70k starting right out of college. She now works as a contract nurse (sort of like a temp-nurse) making $50/hour. Granted, it's a very in demand field, but this was at the same school.

Some of the people that went to my school made me feel ashamed that we were in the same classes. One winner had never heard of the SS. Another winner didn't know the significance of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Oh brother...it gives me a headache just thinking about it...

Most of it is my fault for not applying myself more towards the end of high school, even though I always held good grades. I do think that modern American High Schools should be held to tougher standards to help more kids succeed. It seems like they reward and put all of their effort into making sure that advanced placement students succeed, but make the least amount of effort with "average" students.

-Joe

 

[egan.]

It must be a full moon! Haha. It's cool though...I think you are more closely aligned politically than others on the forum. You are a edit: libertarian, if I remember correctly??

Nooooo. I would probably tag my self a pragmatic liberal if anything. I just made that up.

It really depends on the degree and field.

Absolutely. Engineering, medicine, CS, etc. will give you good odds.
English, history, philosophy and art history qualify you to get another degree or become a barista.

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Nooooo. I would probably tag my self a pragmatic liberal if anything. I just made that up.


Absolutely. Engineering, medicine, CS, etc. will give you good odds.
English, history, philosophy and art history qualify you to get another degree or become a barista.

Funny you should say that...

<---Was a history major that worked as a barista. This was during college though. Now I just help relocate homicide witnesses...90% of them are drug dealers, gang members, etc. etc.

Ughhh, fuck my life.

-Joe

 

[JBroll]

Even in the 'real' fields like the sciences and mathematics, the bachelor's is really only there for jobs. If you really want to learn about a subject, graduate school is all but necessary.

Jeff

 

[Fifth_Horseman]

Great article! Made it to page 10 today, but have to go to bed now... I'll read the rest tomorrow for sure, thanks for sharing

 

[Morgan C]

Haven't finished reading, I agree on some points but I still don't know what he means by maths as an art. If the 'art form' of painting is a Picasso, and the 'mechanical' version is painting-by-numbers; then if the 'mechanical' form of maths is exercises and various problems, then whats the 'art form'?

As for the mechanical teaching.. whenever we were taught something complex: imaginary numbers, pi, e, infinity, etc. etc. We were basically just told to 'accept it'. I used imaginary numbers for an entire year and I still have NO CLUE what they are. Honestly. I can graph them, but I don't know what I'm graphing. Its just 'i'. And I came within the top 10% in the hardest course of maths we had to offer, so its not like I wasn't paying attention or anything.


Now I tutor maths for High School kids and its funny how much you can really teach when they're interested. I had one student who, when I came, was tired, falling asleep, not paying attention. Then I did something, don't even know what it was, but somehow interested him, and by the end of the hour had gone almost a year ahead in complexity in something he knew NOTHING about before. Other students are getting 14% in exams, and I slowly discover how much they really didn't learn, and I try to teach them, set them an hour of work for the entire week and they do about 10 minutes of it. Its really hard trying to keep them interested in learning stuff they did a year or two ago, that they didn't understand and now are failing everything else that continues on from that.



Btw, off-topic, but I was told by one maths teacher that the final level of maths for American highschools is equivalent to our 'Year 11 2Unit', where we have 12 years, and also have a 3Unit and 4Unit (each one SIGNIFICANTLY harder than the previous one). This doesn't sound right to me.. can anyone confirm or deny this? Did you cover basic projectile motion, imaginary numbers, physics, etc. in High School?