Response to Newspaper Stupidity
Okay, folks. It's been a long time since I did one of these, but I thought one of the letters in today's Gazette deserved a response. The letter, entitled Does math matter all that much?, is by Dennis Cato. He asks, "What, exactly, is the pedagogical justification of math in the first place?" and argues "math is the new Latin."
A few years ago, I found an absolutely wonderful response to this by Dean Sherman. I liked it so much that I'm going to use it in place of my own words:
"...People don’t lift weights so that they will be prepared should, one day, [someone] knock them over on the street and lay a barbell across their chests. You lift weights so that you can knock over a defensive lineman, or carry your groceries or lift your grandchildren without being sore the next day.
"You do math exercises so that you can improve your ability to think logically, so that you can be a better lawyer, doctor, architect, prison warden, or parent.
"MATH IS MENTAL WEIGHT TRAINING. It is a means to an end (for most people), not an end in itself."
And that's all I'm gonna say about that. (Unless, of course, someone decides to start a conversation in the comments.)
A few years ago, I found an absolutely wonderful response to this by Dean Sherman. I liked it so much that I'm going to use it in place of my own words:
"...People don’t lift weights so that they will be prepared should, one day, [someone] knock them over on the street and lay a barbell across their chests. You lift weights so that you can knock over a defensive lineman, or carry your groceries or lift your grandchildren without being sore the next day.
"You do math exercises so that you can improve your ability to think logically, so that you can be a better lawyer, doctor, architect, prison warden, or parent.
"MATH IS MENTAL WEIGHT TRAINING. It is a means to an end (for most people), not an end in itself."
And that's all I'm gonna say about that. (Unless, of course, someone decides to start a conversation in the comments.)