Author Topic: Hyperbolic Irony  (Read 700 times)

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Re: Hyperbolic Irony
« on: July 02, 2019, 04:56:45 am »
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“We have even squandered the gains in student achievement made in the wake of the Sputnik challenge. Moreover, we have dismantled essential support systems which helped make those gains possible. We have, in effect, been committing an act of unthinking, unilateral educational disarmament.”

Some of the gains made may have been in the area of allowing actual mathematicians to have an influence on the nature of the math curriculum.  The "teachers" were not prepared to carry this out.  The teachers as a whole, and the public at large, were not receptive; that is, they were not able to teach or convey what they themselves did not understand or possess.

Chaos, yes; but the thorough manner in which concepts are presented makes the efforts of the 1960's something of an artifact, an educational treasure-trove.  I concede that the "Modern School Mathematics STUDY GROUP" may have went overboard, especially in the Frank Allen extremes; but I have approached these texts as a willing adult in search of a more well-rounded understanding.   The material in those texts is anything but dumbed-down - the opposite is true.

As for the term * modern * - it is better interpreted as "abstract."   It's just abstract math and set theory wrapped up in some package [modern] to sell to the consuming educators.   It got all screwed up, but I am sure a small percentage of students and teachers benefited from having the opportunity to engage with such material, even if it is not suited for the masses.   

Even though this life is science-fiction horror, at least I am intimately aware of what is what when it comes to the difference between mud-slinging by those who fear what they don't understand and actual attempts to pass on mathematical concepts through time (time-binding).   The presentations (exercises) are novel.  It's a worhty project.   I'm like some weirdo archeologist of such artifacts, and I will vouch for Dolciani, Beckenbach, etc.   Nowhere else is material presented in this manner.  It's maddening to witness the terms "new math" and "modern" being used against them, especially considering that through the oldest editions, many by-hand calculating techniques are introduced, the likes of which "smart-phone" addicted "post-moderns" would be hard-pressed to concentrate upon long enough to appreciate, let alone master.   

The founders of that math movement may have been mad, but they were attempting to bring clarity, not confusion.    The public, the educators themselves, were not prepepared for such a treatment of the material.   It demanded a somewhat mature audience; and by mature, I mean "mathematicially."   

Intellectual excellence and "education for mass-consumption" are not compatible.  The masses are ineducable, as the Aborigine used to say.   :o

For whatever it's worth, to claify,  I'm a poor man with no reason to lie, and I have interacted with various mediums in search of more genuine understanding and intuitive feel.   The material I am covering: culminating in Dolciani's "Modern Introductory Analysis," both versions, including original 1965 edition, as well as the later 1988 version with computer programming exercises at the end of the sections with the other exercises ... I feel my notes will be useful artifacts.

I have every intention of balancing that strong "abstract" with more concrete/discrete topics.

Anyway, thank you for your patience Raul.  I encourage us to just be ourselves, so it is best I am up front about any radical leanings.   The lightning and thunder demand I shut down the machines.

Stay cool.    :-\
« Last Edit: November 12, 2019, 08:19:39 pm by _id_Crisis_ »
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