Algebra - What is it good for? - Absolutely nothing(?)

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For those who are not aware of it, you can get daily e-mails updates to online articles, web-pages, blog posts etc., that have been recently posted, about any subjects you like, through google alerts.

I get alerts on topics like “homeschool math” and “basic math.” The second of those two alerted me to a great blog post at Joie de vivre - Algebra. Her motto is “Stories only happen to the people who can tell them.” Manifique!

Her post was about math ed and algebra, their relevance, and how they’re pretty well murdered in public schools.

The question at the end of the article, “Are there not enough math teachers because no one learns math well enough to teach it? Or does no one learn math well because there aren’t enough teachers?” is interesting. It meant to be a rhetorical “chicken/egg” question, and as such, it a good one.

I (humbly) submit for consideration, though, that this question may not the most useful one. I think there actually are enough math teachers, but there are three other factors at work:

One factor is that many of them can’t teach very well and/or don’t know math very well.

The second is that those who can and do, aren’t allowed. They are forced to follow some shallow curriculum that the district, state, or whatever ordains. A psychologist friend of mine calls this CDD (or Curriculum Dysfunction Disorder).

The third, and maybe most important, is not that there is any inherent problem in how we teach algebra (well, of course there is, but it may not be as bad as this third factor). It is that we send each child through elementary schools where they are taught math by a “normal” teacher, not a math specialist.

Many (most?) of those teachers have no particular fondness for math, nor an aptitude to understand or teach it. It’s not their faults, either, it’s the way things are set up by a culture that likes to talk about education, but hated to think about it (see also politics, morals, etc. ad nauseum).

Therefore, most students don’t learn an adequate appreciation for the basics, and many don’t learn the basics at all.

If students don’t get the basics, it is absolute cruelty to expect them to use them to understand concepts which build upon them. (Ever hear of Hintikka’s Paradox?) We are setting these kids up to hate school (and society) and then blaming them for it. This is the greatest, most hypocritical crime you can commit on young people in a culture. Why do we love to do it and defend it?

As the author of the article points out, if we were taught algebra well, it would “Excellent! Wonderful! The real world! Teach me this stuff, it sounds great! Except that’s not how we get taught algebra, is it?”

How true! It’s not the algebra, it’s the damned dumb way our administrators and policy makers in the schools think about it.

It’s become “subject in school” instead of the wonder that it really can be.

This is something Plutarch once wrote about the great mathematician Archimedes:

“…Archimedes, although he achieved fame by his mechanical inventions, believed that pure mathematics was the only worthy pursuit. Again Plutarch describes beautifully Archimedes attitude, yet we shall see later that Archimedes did in fact use some very practical methods to discover results from pure geometry:-

Archimedes possessed so high a spirit, so profound a soul, and such treasures of scientific knowledge, that though these inventions had now obtained him the renown of more than human sagacity, he yet would not deign to leave behind him any commentary or writing on such subjects; but, the beauty and grandeur of the subjects examined, of the precision and cogency of the methods and means of proof, most deserve our admiration.
”

Beauty! Grandeur! That’s the ticket!

If you are really interested in “why algebra?” one of the best tips I can give you is to check out The Algebra Project’s website. The Algebra Project is the brainchild of Robert Moses, who was a Freedom Rider and is a great civil rights activist. He considers algebra a civil right, and his reasoning is a great lesson in math, philosophy, how to develop great societies, and much more. As I write this, I realize more and more the value of what he is trying to get across. Please visit that site.

Now, if I may, I’d like to tell a little about my own math journey.

A long time ago, I was a mathephobic, unconfident student. Then I learned math through alternative means. Actually, I learned math through magic books. I am a professional magician.

Now who would have thought that a magician would ever benefit from learning math? When I was a kid, sitting in the psycho-nazi math teacher from hell’s class, I kept thinking, “Who needs this stuff? I’ll never need it, I know I’m going to be a magician.”

Since then, as part of my act, I have done simple mental calculations, like 946 times 873, in seconds, to the amazement of audiences all over the world.

This isn’t being said to impress you with how “smart” I am. The truth is, I get a little sad each time I get great applause for tricks like that, because in fact they are so much easier than the high-end sleight-of-hand I practice for hours each day.

Anyone could do the mental juggling I do if we were adequately taught. And it is fascinating to learn. There is no “boredom factor” when you learn easy, sensible methods.

To that effect, I began developing the Math Mojo and Math Mojo Chronicles website and blog.

I know I ought to get more actual teaching and strategy done here on these sights, but I subscribe to those cool google alerts, which send me to off to cool blogs, which in turn set me off on these tangents.

OK, I’ll get off it now and go develop some more pages on speedmath for you. Or as Frank Zappa would say, “Shut up ‘n’ play yer guitar.”

P.S. Referenced in Joie de vivre’s post is an article in the L.A. Times that deals with algebra and drop-out rates in L.A. schools. Fascinating stuff.

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