[Maths-Education] "Academics query compulsory maths" ( Guardian of 3 10 2000 page 8) <Forward>
Paul Ernest
P.Ernest@exeter.ac.uk
Fri, 6 Oct 2000 18:27:39 +0100 (GMT Daylight Time)
Since this letter to the Guardian will probably never see
the light of day, and since maths ed colleagues may have
been bemused by my purported views if they chanced to read
that august publication on Tuesday and Wednesday I enclose
this piece which also mentions the location of the relevant
chapter on my website
Paul
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Letter to Editor
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Delighted as I was to see the priviliged place of maths in
the school curriculum and the assumptions of its
utility discussed, the article "Academics query compulsory
maths" (Guardian 3-10) takes quotes from my chapter out of
context and misuses them. Indeed I did write "the utility
of academic and school mathematics in the modern world is
greatly overestimated" but I continued the sentence "and
the utilitarian argument provides a poor justification for
the universal teaching of the subject". I go on to describe
the 'relevance paradox' according to which society is ever
increasingly mathematised, but this operates at a level
invisible to most of its members.
I argue that maths is also undervalued because
most justifications are extrinsic, based based on utility
and instrumental value. But maths is rich in intellectually
challenging and exciting concepts including infinity, chaos,
chance, structure, symmetry, etc., and is also an
intrinsically valuable area of human culture.
I therefore conclude by proposing that all learners should
be entitled to develop:
- mathematical skills, knowledge and capabilities,
including a critical appreciation of the social
applications and uses of mathematics
- creative and application capabilities through
expertise in maths problem solving
- an inner appreciation of mathematics and its big ideas,
as well as of its central role in human history and culture.
Far from saying that school maths can be dispensed with I
argue that we need more intellectually ambitious aims for
teaching it. I will post the chapter 'Why teach maths?' on
my web page <www.ex.ac.uk/~PErnest/> for readers interested
in reading it for themselves. Perhaps this will reassure
those readers who have sent me angry messages about
rubbishing maths in school.
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Paul Ernest Phone: +44-1392-264857
University of Exeter Secretary: +44-1392-264877
School of Education Fax: +44-1392-264736
Heavitree Road Email: p.ernest@ex.ac.uk
Exeter EX1 2LU, UK Web: http://www.ex.ac.uk/~PErnest/