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Comment by Tichy | Hacker News Reader

I learned maths AND was able to solve "story problems" in elementary school.

Looking back, the maths taught in elementary school is very basic, too. Just multiplication and division of integers, not even fractions yet.

To be honest, I don't care that much anymore if somebody doesn't want to learn maths. It's just their loss. But maths was one of the few things I enjoyed at school, so I absolutely see no point in removing it from the curriculum.

There are some school forms (like Montessori I think, quite popular here in Germany), where pupils can apparently choose for themselves what they want to learn at any particular moment. Not sure how exactly it works, but might be a good idea.

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In Montessori, there is some emphasis on choosing what you're interested in, but I think the more important part (when it comes to math) is that it's typically taught using strong visuals, manipulation of number blocks/cubes, etc. Instead of focusing on rote memorization of algorithms, the focus is on patterns and sensory experience. Kids "get" patterns; what they struggle with is algorithms applied to symbols.

I went through "normal" school and was always way ahead in math. My Montessori-educated sister, 3 years younger than me and not particularly mathematically inclined, could intelligently converse with me about my algebra homework when I was in sixth grade and she was in third. She wasn't as familiar with the symbols as I was, but she recognized many of the patterns (like difference of squares) in physical form.

The Montessori math approach is outlined at http://www.infomontessori.com/mathematics/introduction.htm

"Everyone generalizes from one example. At least, I do."

I am not saying that everybody is like me - but I think one example in this case is enough to show that the suggested way of getting rid of maths education is not the right thing for everybody. That's actually also maths: one counter-example is enough to disprove an assumption.

It seems especially dangerous to me as anti-maths types might dominate in politics and therefore might find the idea especially appealing.

Maybe it then boils down to the bigger question if talented people should be dragged down to the average levels of achievement.

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