alt Hacker NewsActually, they have for a large majority of the population. And fun fact: that debate is still going on, and the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) enacted a rule prohibiting calculator use in AMC.
https://ivyleaguecenter.org/2024/03/12/over-reliance-on-calc...
Math fosters critical thinking, and we've been in a critical thinking deficit for decades and decades. I don't think we can afford to sink even deeper...
Replies
lanstin • today at 4:31 PM
Because the 1890s and 1930s were famous for their population wide critical thinking, of course. Good heavens, what do they teach in the schools these days.
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antonvs • today at 6:52 PM
> we've been in a critical thinking deficit for decades and decades.
Compared to when?
> Math fosters critical thinking
I kinda agree, but I also kinda disagree.
My question would be if "math" is the right tool for that. It can achieve that as a side-effect, but how we express it and talk about it is full of legacy cruft, cargo-culting and general bullshit that makes it not exactly snap into place for all kinds of brain wirings.
Math I believe is not an end in itself. Maybe with that perspective, solutions that satisfy our needs there can be found