It's official: I'm a huge nerd
I can already hear most of you saying that you could've told me so but it's recently been confirmed to me irrefutably. Dammit. I'm a well-adjusted nerd!
So in that nerdy vein I nerdily present this fascinating paper on MATHEMATICS. I'm not even joking. Click here to read. It's called Lockhart's Lament. I will present a few excerpts so you know what you're getting into (it's about Mathematics and the education system, not actually maths). It's only 25 pages long?
"A musician wakes from a terrible nightmare. In his dream he finds himself in a society where music education has been made mandatory. “We are helping our students become more competitive in an increasingly sound-filled world.” Educators, school systems, and the state are put in charge of this vital project. Studies are commissioned, committees are formed, and decisions are made- all without the advice or participation of a single working musician or composer.
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.
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Meanwhile, on the other side of town, a painter has just awakened from a similar nightmare... I was surprised to find myself in a regular school classroom- no easels, no tubes of paint. “Oh we don’t actually apply paint until high school,” I was told by the students. “In seventh grade we mostly study colors and applicators.” They showed me a worksheet. On one side were swatches of color with blank spaces next to them. They were told to write in the names. “I like painting,” one of them remarked, “they tell me what to do and I do it. It’s easy!”
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.
.
In fact, if I had to design a mechanism for the express purpose of destroying a child’s natural curiosity and love of pattern-making, I couldn’t possibly do as good a job as is currently being done- I simply wouldn’t have the imagination to come up with the kind of senseless, soul-crushing ideas that constitute contemporary mathematics education."
Intruiged you yet?
Cool clock (sort of in theme?) from Kibardindesign (found here.)
So in that nerdy vein I nerdily present this fascinating paper on MATHEMATICS. I'm not even joking. Click here to read. It's called Lockhart's Lament. I will present a few excerpts so you know what you're getting into (it's about Mathematics and the education system, not actually maths). It's only 25 pages long?
"A musician wakes from a terrible nightmare. In his dream he finds himself in a society where music education has been made mandatory. “We are helping our students become more competitive in an increasingly sound-filled world.” Educators, school systems, and the state are put in charge of this vital project. Studies are commissioned, committees are formed, and decisions are made- all without the advice or participation of a single working musician or composer.
.
.
.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, a painter has just awakened from a similar nightmare... I was surprised to find myself in a regular school classroom- no easels, no tubes of paint. “Oh we don’t actually apply paint until high school,” I was told by the students. “In seventh grade we mostly study colors and applicators.” They showed me a worksheet. On one side were swatches of color with blank spaces next to them. They were told to write in the names. “I like painting,” one of them remarked, “they tell me what to do and I do it. It’s easy!”
.
.
.
In fact, if I had to design a mechanism for the express purpose of destroying a child’s natural curiosity and love of pattern-making, I couldn’t possibly do as good a job as is currently being done- I simply wouldn’t have the imagination to come up with the kind of senseless, soul-crushing ideas that constitute contemporary mathematics education."
Intruiged you yet?
Cool clock (sort of in theme?) from Kibardindesign (found here.)