Sat
Jun 20 2009
08:45 am
Weekend Reading
By: onetahiti

It is strongly recommended that everyone with an interest in education or the arts read this essay by Paul Lockhart, "Lockhart's Lament:" (link...).

It's 25 pages in PDF format, packed mostly with truths, and a good read.

One might argue about the value of calculators or about how much people use--or ought to use--what they've learned from primary and secondary school in later life, or offer tips for success in the traditional curriculum ((link...)).

Lockhart's central points, however, ring very true.

-- OneTahiti

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I'd have given my left cojone...

Submitted by RoaneBooster on June 20, 2009 - 10:23am.

... to have had math teachers like that, particularly in college! I had one in particular... we were in analytical geometry and pre-calc. He was amazingly fun to listen to talking about the history of math, or the philosophy of math. He was brilliant. But he couldn't teach s our preparatory building blocks well enough to get us through. And we suffered for it later in our college careers. He told us up front he graded by the "stair step" method: He stood at the top of flight of stairs and threw our papers out over the steps. The ones that landed at the top had the most on them and got the best grades, etc, etc.

I'd have been far better off to have experienced educators and teachers who realized what this paper points out.

I, too, recommend it - highly!

RB

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