Friday, April 28, 2000

Why SHOULD kids learn algebra ?

An article under EDUCATION in today's Projo asks: " Why

    can't children learn algebra " ? Then the answer according to

    a panel of scientists : their algebra books  just don't relate

    to everyday life.

          It is intellectual dishonesty to pretend that the average

    citizen in our country - or any country - will ever need to

    use even high school algebra in everyday life.

            Algebra is the language of SCIENCE . In the market-place

    it will always  be "  Greek to me ".

            The fundamental IDEA of algebra is this : Let X =

    the unknown quantity. Now in the words of Albert Einstein 's

    Uncle Jacob : "  When the animal that we are hunting cannot

    be caught, we call it X temporarily and continue to hunt it

    until it is bagged . "

           For a DREAMER of genius like Einstein, Algebra was

    just the thing - this " lazy man's arithmetic ".

             A kid more fascinated by baseball and basketball than

    by the wonders of the universe will never even need a

    " scientific " hand calculator.

             I suspect  that members of that panel of scientists

    investigating " the real algebra problem " ( Projo , page

    A8 , April 27 ) want to get in on the school book racket !

        " Algebra is a merry science ", said Jacob Einstein . And

    a  merry X-mas to these scholars with the hearts of shop -keepers!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments that are courteous, concise and relevant are always welcome, whether or not they agree with the views expressed here or not. Profanity is not necessary. Thank you for reading “Time Enough At Last!”

Ron