Academic priorities 321

There was a posting in the education newsgroup some time ago that even a month might be enough to learn the manipulations; as for speed, how important is this? I have the speed.

These have NEVER been taught, except in the early days of the "new math". The teachers had difficulty in understanding the principles then, and more of them have the problem now.

But on the other hand, the skill to actually do something -

Not necessarily. Finding the indefinite integral is not a very important skill; if it can be easily done, any of the computer packages will do it, and if it cannot be easily done, it cannot be easily done.

Teach variables in grade 1, what the integers are in the primary grades, mathematical logic by grade 5; these have all been done on a small scale. Once you have this, you are really in business. Algebra will be immediate, and I would suggest teaching calculus conceptually, which is rarely done now.

-- This address is for information only. I do not claim that these views are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University. Herman Rubin, Department of Statistics, Purdue University