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Comment by misslibby | Hacker News Reader

Other kid's lives are being made miserable for years by other subjects. So what is the solution here? Only teach kids things they want to learn?

I mean I personally think school is overrated, especially with high quality YouTube videos available for everything. But I don't think that is a common notion?

Edit: OK, you know what, why not - yes, abolish schools! They are just prisons for kids.

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Obviously, the solution is to calibrate how much of each subject we teach to the general student population, and track people with aptitude into deeper iterations of subjects that are less useful for non-specialists. Aspiring lawyers don't need stunt-integration calculus, and aspiring physicists don't need 20th Century American Lit. We have no trouble with this concept in other fields: you don't take AP Studio Art unless you're tracking to a BFA. But we shoehorn everyone into a math sequence that is not especially valuable.

Seems pretty clear?

But isn't that what is already supposed to happen? Presumably school authorities are trying to work out a useful curriculum, that they adjust from time to time?

Maybe a more useful discussion would be how to measure success and how to determine what is necessary? This "8th grade maths is enough" is a bit too handwavy.

I can actually imagine that there would not have to be as much focus on doing calculations on paper or in one's head, as everybody has a calculator ready at all times these days. As one example.

That's the whole point of the conversation we're ostensibly having.

But not very specific so far. We only have some anecdotes from that article writer about 8th grade maths.

To start, I think everybody should be able to do financial calculations (like compounding interest), and be able to decipher the charts they are being bombarded with every day in the media.

Other than that I guess I agree with some other posters that it is the people who figure thinks out who are often also good in maths. I am not even sure how to teach that and if traditional maths at school helps.

You asked "what's the solution here". I'm just saying: there are solutions here, and they aren't abstract. Is there a widespread belief that the current US high school math sequence is good? I feel like I've read a lot of different takes, many from mathematicians and scientists, about why it's not good.

The question was in reply to the argument that maths should be abolished or toned down because it makes kids miserable. So if that is the criterion, what about all the other subjects that make kids miserable. I personally enjoyed maths, but other subjects made me miserable.

I don't think that means everything is fine as it is, but also that simply getting rid of subjects because people don't enjoy them may be too much.

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