First of all, I want people to know my experience in math education. I have spent most of my life being a math student. I came to college in 2005, and I earned a BS in Mathematics and a BS in Education, and I am also a licensed high school math teacher. Additionally, I stayed in school after graduation, and I am working on my MS in Mathematics. While doing so, I am a teaching assistant, so I have continued to teach math while learning math. That's a lot of math and a lot of education!
In my experience in the education program while training to become a teacher, I found that the current paradigm in the public education sector is that everything taught should be made relevant to students. I cannot argue with the fact that students always want to know when they will use what they are learning. I cannot argue that if students know that something is applicable, they often are more captivated by it. However, I balked at this because I was well aware that much of math is not "applicable" to daily life. While applications to daily life can be found at times, if students were only taught that which is applicable to them, they would miss out on a lot of math.
Additionally, they would miss a beautiful part of math. Years after I finished my last education class, I now realize a large part of why the "relevance" paradigm bothers me. It blindly ignores the significance of the value of thought and logic. Our society has become one where thinking well is not valued, and our education system seems to be changing in a way that does not discourage this fact. If we as educators seem to value end results over the thinking process, who will teach our students to think? As Kenny explains in his post, pure mathematics begins with a few simple assumptions, and then we start a process where we discover what must be true based on our assumptions. While certainly not everybody will use calculus or even algebra often in life, we should not ignore the value of being able to think and reason! I believe that the "relevance" paradigm is allowing our society to continue to devalue the ability to think and reason well. We need to be honest when students ask us, "When will we use this?" The honest answer might include, "You might never use these facts and skills, however, if you need them it will be great to have them." However, the answer should also include, "Regardless of whether or not you use these math skills someday, I am helping you to learn how to think well. Your brain is being sharpened each time you struggle and then push through as you solve a problem. You can become a more capable, reasonable human being for the rest of your life as a result of your math education."
To you students of math, please do not write your education off as a waste of your time. I have spent the last six years of my life being frustrated and challenged by mathematics, and I promise you that I can look back and see how much my thinking skills have improved. Accept the challenge of a new problem, even if you do not think you "need" it, and you will be amazed at what your mind can do for you.
2 comments:
I think that just because I might not use trigonometric identities every day of my life doesn't mean that they're not relevant. I understand how the world works at a very basic level to a higher degree, for one thing, and as you said, the thinking skills certainly aren't irrelevant.
Layers.
Good call. I absolutely agree with you that understanding the world better is reason enough to learn. However, I regret to say that I'm nearly positive that my professors would not have thought that this was a sufficient explanation of how my material is applicable. I think that professors wanted students to have concrete examples that they could easily relate to.
Based on your comments and your blog, you sound like you have passion for learning. Yay!
Post a Comment