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In their effort to teach "mathematics," apparently many math teachers
My colleagues in the math department tell me that they teach math, not
physics, not chemistry, and not cooking. Their averaged out response to
physics is much the same as the averaged out response of members of the
English Department (excuse me, the Department of English). The math
teachers do a very good job of teaching such things as solving algebraic
equations and making graphs, but include almost no discussion of
applications until AP Calculus where they are required to talk a little
about kinematics and related rate problems. For this reason, students
get a shock when they take chem or physics because a problem described
verbally has to be solved using mathematics. The translation has to be
practiced for some time before they get it.