Musings of a half-crazed weazl » Life http://www.weazlrants.com bordering on the realm of the philosophic Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:34:40 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc en hourly 1 The Lost Art of Mathematics http://www.weazlrants.com/archives/2009/06/the-lost-art-of-mathematics/ http://www.weazlrants.com/archives/2009/06/the-lost-art-of-mathematics/#comments Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:34:55 +0000 Dimwitweasel http://www.weazlrants.com/?p=69 One of my friends recently introduced me to an essay recounting some of  the wrongs of our current education system, with regard to Mathematics. A Mathematician’s Lament, by Paul Lockhart, tells of a society that has taken an art form and utterly defiled it. Our beloved “Educational System,” with its standardized tests, set curriculum, and competitive goals, has removed true mathematics from the eduction process altogether, in favor of memorization and regurgitation. Gone are the days when students were challenged to come up with their own solutions to mathematical problems, no longer do students learn why 1 + 1 is equal to 2, or why the area of a triangle is one-half of its base multiplied by its height. Instead, we are told that it “just is,” “it doesn’t matter why, just memorize the formula, you’ll need it for the test.” No wonder students hate math class so much. Read the essay, its worth it.

Peace.

“Lockhart’s Lament” alternate link

]]> http://www.weazlrants.com/archives/2009/06/the-lost-art-of-mathematics/feed/ 2 School….. here we go again…. http://www.weazlrants.com/archives/2008/08/school/ http://www.weazlrants.com/archives/2008/08/school/#comments Sun, 24 Aug 2008 03:42:55 +0000 Dimwitweasel http://www.weazlrants.com/?p=47 It’s that time again, isn’t it. And no, I don’t mean Christmas. School is starting, and we all know what that means… Late nights spent procrastinating, early mornings spent making up for it. Life’s a bit different for me this semester though, as I have decided to live on-campus. I commuted to school for my first two semesters, and kinda got burn-out on driving here everyday. I lucked out too, I got a room two days before I was supposed to move in, and it turns out that it’s one of the newly renovated rooms here on campus. It’s like staying in a hotel, albeit not nearly as much fun…

I have yet to meet my room mate officially, he moves in tomorrow morning… We have talked, however, and he seems like a nice-enough guy. I suppose we shall find out.

Classes start on Monday, but my schedule is not nearly as full as it was last semester. I’ve gone from 18 credit hours to 16, and two of my classes are cores. Hopefully this will be a relatively easy semester.

Well, anyway…  TF2 is calling me… I must answer…

Peace.

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