Math Education Reform That Makes Sense
In a recently posted TED Talk, mathematician and magician Arthur Benjamin says the K12 math curriculum is all wrong.
Instead of building a pyramid with Calculus at the top, students should be getting a good foundation in Statistics.
… I’m here to say, as a professor of mathematics, very few people use Calculus in a conscious, meaningful way in their day to day lives.
On the other hand, Statistics, that’s a subject that you could, and should, use on a daily basis.
I think if our students, our high school students, if all of the American citizens, knew about probability and statistics, we wouldn’t be in the economic mess we’re in today.
Listen to the professor. His talk is only 3 minutes but he makes far more sense than most math education “experts” you’ll hear.

