Well I guess I don't get it, but then maths is like that. Someone tells you to do x, you do x, you get it right or you get it wrong: no one gives a toss. No one cares that you've just described the entire universe (less the supernovae or the black holes), no one cares that you've inscribed patterns across space - patterns which remain, whether you like them or not; whether you think the guy who made them matters or not: they remain.
They are not contingent like the semi colon, or culturally derived like the feminism or the theism: they are not subject to the whims of tenured professors: there they are and you can just something off if you don't like it, tbh.
But to just do x, if you have been told to: that defies and defeats the entire point of mathematics. They tell us this because they know we are thick and also because in a pyramidal structure like maths, you just cannot *understand* things that you need to know how to do, when you are little.
No-one tells an 8 year old about subjects, objects, predicates, the passive voice or the genitive case. Equally, you shouldn't need to tell an 8 year old about the mechanics of division in order to teach them how to do it. But so paranoid are we about maths, so in hoc to an educational vision based more in socialism than in intellectualism, that we cannot believe we can teach these skills without sending 8 year olds into A Level territory, and in the meantime, depriving them of the skills of actually dividing one number by another.
Division by repeated subtraction: for crying out loud are you REALLY going to stop bright 11 year olds dividing by decimals by using this infantile but ridiculously complex method? Are you REALLY going to prevent tough calculation by saying "well, just take away and take away and take away"?
More to the point: stop insisting on an "understanding" that defies most adults, let alone children. You do not need to know that a sentence consists of subject, object and predicate to write one. Why are we baffling kids with mathematical jargon? Why are we constructing entirely false notions of "understanding" which exclude the simple explanation "well, I am timesing x by y" or "well, I guess I am seeing how often z goes into a". - and hamstringing bright kids, and stopping them calculating?
It could'nt be because socialist academics who write the curriculum don't want kids to be able to do these things...could it?
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Tin-I really liked this post. I agree with you, on many points. I remember learning math (you know how painful this is for me to talk about) and our teachers did not try to cram complex theories down our throats. We did the ridiculous going on forever long division until we came to the end of the problem. I believe this is critical in the learning process. I think you activate neuro pathways that remain silent until they are properly stimulated by such mundan repetitive thoughts.
The jargon can come later, the actual doing has to be first.
I mean, a person could read forever about white water rafting, but until they actually did it, it wouldn't really mean anything.
Believe it or not, I was actually thinking about my math history in school yesterday (because you inspired that - thank you) and I remembered being in the third grade. We were just learning multiplication. To aid us, we had small interlocking blocks. We would make rows of 5 or 10 and then line up the rows. The teacher actually had us count each individual block to understand the summation principal of multiplying. Very crude, but it was an effective way to convey the concept to small children.
Don't get me started on grammer. I love English and grammer. My most favorite subjects. (Fragmented sentence)
This could be one reason I like sir!
:)
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