Conversation

Hillel
@hillelogram
Mild take we place way, way, way too much emphasis on calculus in high school and college. It's purely a vocational skill, it doesn't teach mathematical mindsets (unlike logic or geometry) and it doesn't equip us to be responsible citizens (unlike statistics)
Quote Tweet
GeePaw Hill
@GeePawHill
·
A friend told a funny about an essay assignment: "how I am going to use calculus in real life". I have been a computer geek for 40+ years, and I have used calculus many times: by quickly recognizing what problems are gonna need calculus, I can find something else to work on.
Show this thread
36
195
Hillel
@hillelogram
I bucket calculus into the same category as programming classes and machine shop— a great class to take if you're aiming for a relevant career, otherwise fun but purely elective
2
38
Keith Braithwaite
@keithb_b
Too much emphasis on it, yes. But for those not aiming for a STEM career I’d like to see it taught in the same way we’d teach $GREATPOET and $ARTMOVEMENT and so on, not a tool you’ll never use—that’s pointless—but as part of one’s grounding in what people are, and are capable of.
2
1
Brendan Zabarauskas
@brendanzab
I wish this about computing too! I was really sad when I started a degree in CS after making it part-way through art school, and saw that there was no teaching of the history and context of the technical things being taught. That background so important on so many levels!
1