I don't like the way math is taught

[neromir]

I used to think I hated math, but recent experiences, reflections, and classes have shown me that it is otherwise. I really like math-- it's an excellent tool and helps simplify a lot of problems into numbers and rules that otherwise would have to be resolved purely from empirical observation and conceptual understanding

Comments

[neromir]

What do you mean 'new math?' I'm not familiar with the term.

Like I said, it's not actually math that I hate (although it can be pretty blood-boiling at times), but mostly the teaching methods (or lack there of) that drives me insane. I wish more professors took the "if you link the new concept to an old concept that students already understand and tell them why they care, it works a lot better" theory and used it more often. As it stands, a lot of them just drop the new concepts on you and expect you to work everything else out, like what it even has to do with what you were studying the day before.

[iamzuul]

New math is exactly what you described in the second paragraph. Right around 1990, they changed the way math was taught to what a lot of people still refer to as 'new math', where they teach it to you generally without really making certain the student understands the subject.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Math#The_New_New_Math

Tom Lehrer (<3) even wrote a song about it: "...in the new approach, as you know, the important thing is to understand what you're doing, rather than to get the right answer."