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Quoting Paul Lockhart:
A musician wakes from a terrible nightmare. In his
dream he finds
himself in a society where music education has been made
mandatory.
³We are helping our students become more competitive in an
increasingly sound-filled world.² 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.
Since musicians
are known to set down their ideas in the form of
sheet music, these curious
black dots and lines must constitute the
³language of music.² It is
imperative that students become fluent in
this language if they are to
attain any degree of musical competence;
indeed, it would be ludicrous to
expect a child to sing a song or
play an instrument without having a
thorough grounding in music
notation and theory. Playing and listening to
music, let alone
composing an original piece, are considered very advanced
topics and
are generally put off until college, and more often graduate
school.
Sadly, our present system of mathematics education is
precisely this
kind of nightmare. In fact, if I had to design a mechanism
for the
express purpose of destroying a child¹s natural curiosity and love
of
pattern-making, I couldn¹t possibly do as good a job as is currently
being done I simply wouldn¹t have the imagination to come up with
the kind
of senseless, soulcrushing ideas that constitute
contemporary mathematics
education.
http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf
won't soon forget it.
noteveryone will find it so; slapstick stops being funny if/when
to identify with the guy whose kiester is gettingslapped with a stick. And
an insult hurts in direct proportionto its accuracy.
article and the author:http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_03_08.html
surprised Lockhart hasn't yet been arrested and charged withcorrupting the
youth of Athens.
PhysicsPhys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
Educators
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