CronoDAS comments on How I Ended Up Non-Ambitious - Less Wrong

113 Post author: Swimmer963 23 January 2012 11:50PM

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Comment author: fractalman 05 July 2013 02:48:28PM 1 point [-]

"not very high relative to classes on, e.g., personal finances, logic, probability, economics, civics and etc." But high relative to, say, teaching a class on postmodernism.

what I do know is this: the grade school that fed into my highschool had a nifty policy for math: you go to the math class at the level your ready for, independent of your grade level. This is on the assumption that (innate?) mathematical aptitude is relatively uncoupled from other "classroom skills".

As a result, those who don't have a super-duper knack for math don't generally hold back those who do have a knack for math, so the upper end of the curve is already extending itself by the time those kids get into high school.

Comment author: [deleted] 05 July 2013 03:05:59PM 1 point [-]

I'm sure at least 40% of high school freshmen could learn Mandarin, but you don't see that happening. Therefore, merely because students are capable of learning a subject, does not imply that that subject is or ought to be taught.

Seriously. I'm talking about opportunity costs.

But high relative to, say, teaching a class on postmodernism.

Philosophy is not even a blip on the secondary education subject radar.

Comment author: fractalman 05 July 2013 09:06:16PM 0 points [-]

due to my experiences as a young kid (I could challenge Authority (my parents) on a math problem and sometimes WIN, and I learned how to factor quadratics in first grade) and the fact i see the application of math almost everywhere (computers in particular, but bridges and buildings as well) means that I see math as our best tool.
time to start applying it recursively.

  1. I believe that math is usefull for a human with ~99.99+% probability. (that number discards the probability of an AI for the sake of speed)
  2. I believe, with about a 75% confidence (for now) that having calculus as an available, but not required, course, should be possible in at least 80% of high schools.
  3. even an understanding of a simplified calculus is usefull in many other subjects.
  4. if (#2), then a high school unable to offer calculus is either a particularly small highschool, or is being fed by an underperforming grade school system.
  5. There is plenty of evidence that SOMETHING in the gradeschool system is underperforming regarding mathematics.

-Which belief elements do you want me to try to expand on the most when i get back?

Comment author: [deleted] 05 July 2013 10:41:58PM 0 points [-]

Which belief elements do you want me to try to expand on the most when i get back?

None. You're still in a "can = must" frame of mind, after three attempts to explain my position. Your one engagement with the idea of replacing high school calculus with something else was, as far as I can tell, facetious.

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