Comment on Open Thread, May 1-15, 2012

Fri, 04 May 2012 16:07:06 GMT

I'm not sure I'd necessarily advocate this.

Don't get me wrong, I love Khan Academy. It's great for revising topics I haven't seen in a while, or getting a different perspective on ones I'm currently learning, but I'm actually studying towards a maths degree, which I then want to go and do something with.

If I didn't need to learn linear algebra, I don't think I could call me not learning it a case of akrasia. I'd call that a case of me making more time for eating sandwiches and talking to pretty girls. I might wish I knew lots about linear algebra, but the sandwiches and pretty girls are clearly more important to me. As it happens, I do need to learn linear algebra, and as a result, I end up learning it.

If you want people to spend their time learning a skill for the purpose of competing, you may as well tell them to play StarCraft 2. If you want them to learn a useful skill, give them a genuine use for it. Project Euler does this by posing problems solved with algorithms you may actually have to code up in real life one day. Why not assemble actual real-world problems solvable with higher mathematics, let people see what kind of problems they want to solve, and have that direct them in what to learn?

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