20220807 : Mathematics, school...

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In the past few days/ weeks, I have been watching a lot of videos regarding mathematics concepts. Don't ask me why, I don't know why it started but I have not been able to stop. Nothing complex, very basic stuff...

I have not considered myself very good with mathematics but neither have I considered myself bad with it either. I have been 'ok' all through - have had no love or aversion towards it.

Over the last few days, I have realised how bad I am at it. I can still use it effectively, but I have had no idea what I am doing. Needless to say, that is how we were taught growing up and we never bothered to find out either. In case we were curious, who would we have asked anyway....

Over the last few days, I have been devouring the concepts. Everytime, it has been a revelation to me with a feeling of "oh boy! That is what I was doing all along!"

There are a few favourites of mine as well - whose stuff I keep going back to. All free of course. I am sure there are many folks and great stuff is out there that I haven't stumbled upon. And this is in the free universe. I am sure the paid universe is much wider and deeper.

Which begs me to think (nothing new here) - what is the value of schools and colleges nowadays. They have to be affiliated with some board, follow prescribed rules and delivery of curriculum. Yes, some schools do exercise some flexibility within the boundaries, but essentially similar stuff.

Surely, when it comes to imparting knowledge (information), they are no match to what is available out there...

I have seen a lot of stuff about very knowledgeable youngsters who struggle with "soft skills". Scratch that - "human skills" as explained by another one of my favourites. Stuff like empathy, caring, effective interactions, creativity, expressing, etc., etc. None of which have anything to do with the curriculum.

I guess the main reason schools and colleges have to exist today is to provide these "human skills" - basically everything else other than information and academic knowledge. Of course they have to provide that too - to comply, and I guess that builds logical and analytical thinking. More hard stuff if you ask me.

In my opinion, everything else (human skills) is the main curriculum of schools and colleges nowadays. The board specific subjects (academic knowledge) is extracurricular stuff at best...

Comments

  1. vinod KD9/8/22 12:34

    I wish schools/colleges would teach people how to learn, because I think that's the primary thing they should. And they do so, but almost by accident.

    I almost completed an online masters, and I have to tell you that the luck with paid online content is 50-50. some teachers really made me learn - I learned threading by re-implementing the pthreads library, for example; while another teacher made me mug up UML diagrams. So yeah, 50-50.

    And, TBH, my experiences with school/college have not really been one of great imparting of human skills, aside from the few teachers whose names you still remember because they made you love the subject.

    But: there has been an explosion of teachers so there's no longer the straight jacket of professors alone. Redditors will openly tell you that they owe their master degrees to "indians on youtube" who taught them concepts in Computer Science much better than their college profs ever did. So that might be a bit of what you're seeing - new media unlocks new ways of teaching (and therefore learning)

    However, there have been some efforts in the human skills direction even before the internet. Specific to mathematics: check out "How to solve it" by Gregor Polya, which starts with "did you even understand the problem?"
    k that's the primary thing they should. And they do so, but almost by accident.
    As I did that master's course, I too felt the need for education to answer "why does this concept exist?", and probably more importantly, "what would I use it in the real world?". Some home schooling curricula take this approach of learning by observing or doing, more than rote learning what has already been learnt by someone else and packaged up for our mcdonalds style consumption.

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