A Society that No Longer Believes in the Multiplication Table

Regis Nicoll explains "Why Johnny Can't Multiply." It also explains why Johnny can't think rightly about  even more important matters, like "What is true about the nature of reality?"

Comments

[Sigfried Trent]

Here I think there is some truth and wisdom in the article and some misunderstanding by the author.

Clearly teaching basice tried and true math systems is good. Accuracy in mathmatical problem solving is essential to doing "good math".

That said, if you simply learn everything by wrote, you end up not actualy understanding what you learned and if faced with an unfamiliar problem form you end up lost. I've seen it all too often where someone says they are good with math but can't actualy do any real world problem solving because the problems don't come in the form of a math equation with the numbers layed out in a familiar pattern.

Actualy understanding how multiplication and addition work, as opposed to simply solving equations is key to applying those skills to real life situations. Honestly you should teach the basic tools first, and then move into the more analytical discussions.

I find it interesting how christians often lobby so strongly against any attempt to get folks to think for themselves and actualy understand how things work on a base level and would instead prefer knowledge by authority where you are expected to simply accept what you are told is truth without actual comprehension. I agree that sometimes that is all you really need. But if you want to dig deep and think about something it's nice to have the tools to do that.

I like the cheap shots at evolution but the moment christians can come up with an actual competing scientific explination is the day they will make headway teaching it in public schools. What you have is a big guess with little supporting data and no experimental way to validate it.