US 'in Denial' over Poor Maths Standards

[realibrad]

I never said we care about intentions over outcomes. I said we care about method over outcome, because (as I already said) if you do the method right the outcome follows naturally.

I just wanted to make sure that you were confining it to math and not a general way for life.

I would also disagree a little. Methods should be tested against outcomes. I think you are right that in math, we have tested the methods enough to be pretty sure that the formulas work and when done correctly, you will get the correct answer. I just see the same idea added to other issues and the outcomes are horrible. An example that has long ago passed is blood letting. If you got sick, the "Doctor" would drain blood. If you got sicker, he would just drain more blood. They thought the method was sound, but the outcomes were horrible.

 

[piasabird]

So do you do all those statistical and financial functions on paper? You use some fancy calculator, don't you? Tell the Truth????

 

[Paul98]

One of the problems is that simply memorizing a simple method to get a correct answer may not give the student any understanding of why it works, how it works, what they can do with numbers, and if the answer they get is close to what it should be.

There are obviously basics that need to be memorized along with methods to get answers. But that is only a small part, there also needs to be understanding.

Along with things to get people on the same page, such as order of operations.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

I just wanted to make sure that you were confining it to math and not a general way for life.

I would also disagree a little. Methods should be tested against outcomes. I think you are right that in math, we have tested the methods enough to be pretty sure that the formulas work and when done correctly, you will get the correct answer. I just see the same idea added to other issues and the outcomes are horrible. An example that has long ago passed is blood letting. If you got sick, the "Doctor" would drain blood. If you got sicker, he would just drain more blood. They thought the method was sound, but the outcomes were horrible.

Math is hypothetical. If it works in theory, it works in practice. In this regard maths is unique and implying that I said it could be applied to anything else is verging on straw-man.

For the record, the same principle is actually applicable to the scientific method, with a few stipulations.