A friend of mine sent me a link (to a link) last week. The second link is an essay on the teaching of mathematics. It breaks my heart, both for its truth and its beauty.
I think the author is dead on about what’s wrong in the teaching of mathematics — and not just in K-12. He is also absolutely on the mark when he describes what mathematics means to me.
It is very well written, and I think it is very worthwhile reading.
There was an interesting question and answer out on the sci.math newsgroup (and probably sci.physics). The question was posed in John Baez’ June 20 “This Week’s Finds in Mathematical Physics (Week 276)” and answered in the very next post in the thread, by Phillip Helbig.
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