~ archived since 2018 ~

Closing the Math Gap for Boys

throwaway

February 1, 2015

5 upvotes

/r/MensRights

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/01/opinion/sunday/intense-tutoring-can-close-the-math-gap.html

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Post Information

Title	Closing the Math Gap for Boys
Author	throwaway
Upvotes	5
Comments	19
Date	February 1, 2015 10:17 PM UTC (11 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/2ug8wi/closing_the_math_gap_for_boys/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/closing-the-math-gap-for-boys.989101 https://theredarchive.com/post/989101

Comments

[–]xynomaster 0 points1 point2 points 11 years ago (0 children) | Copy Link

[–]anticapitalist -3 points-2 points-1 points 11 years ago* (17 children) | Copy Link

[–]throwaway[S] 1 point2 points3 points 11 years ago (16 children) | Copy Link

[–]anticapitalist -1 points0 points1 point 11 years ago (15 children) | Copy Link

[–]jcruyff14 0 points1 point2 points 11 years ago (1 child) | Copy Link

[–]anticapitalist -1 points0 points1 point 11 years ago (0 children) | Copy Link

[–]xynomaster 0 points1 point2 points 11 years ago (8 children) | Copy Link

Really? Math is hugely useful in life. I'm studying engineering so I might be slightly biased, but I can't help but feel that saying math isn't "something of actual value" is hugely ignorant.

Even if you're not studying engineering, knowing math is important. If you want to go into computer science, knowing math is helpful (knowing a systematic, logical way of thinking and approaching problems always helps). If you want to get involved in the growing fields of data analytics/machine learning/that kind of thing, you'll need to know math. It's required for any science field.

And even if you're not going into a field like that, math is just a language for describing relations between things as concisely as possible. Understanding how these relations work, how to think logically, etc, will help you throughout your life.

[–]anticapitalist -1 points0 points1 point 11 years ago (7 children) | Copy Link

[–]xynomaster 0 points1 point2 points 11 years ago (6 children) | Copy Link

I said most of the math taught in school (eg most algebra) is not useful to normal people.

That's blatantly untrue, though. Algebra teaches you a way of logical thinking that helps a ton throughout life, especially if you're doing something like programming. Even if it's as basic as understanding how variables work, how logical statements work, etc.

I'm a programmer & almost all school math I was taught was just time wasting obedience training.

Really? Are you talking high school math or university-level math? Either way, if it's being taught that way it's being taught wrong.

If you have no idea how math works, how can you write a recursive function and have the slightest clue how long it will take to terminate? How can you understand how RSA and other encryption schemes work? What about low-level programming involving bitwise operations? And forget about going into any area more advanced than basic programming - you can't do any kind of AI or graphics or computer vision without knowing tons of math.

I mean fuck, how can you even figure out the right order to apply transformations (ie rotate/translate/scale) to things without math?

School "math" is mostly memorizing the names of a bunch of things & not actually finding ways to use math.

It sounds to me like your school just had a shitty math program.

[–]anticapitalist -1 points0 points1 point 11 years ago (5 children) | Copy Link

That's blatantly untrue, though. Algebra teaches you

Again, that shows you are failing at reading.

I did not say:

That say all algebra is worthless.

I did say:

Most of the algebra taught in school (eg the endless names of things you temporarily memorize) is not useful in real life to most people.

If you have no idea how math works,

That (again) shows your reading/literacy issues.

I did not say people should have no idea how math works.

And forget about going into any area more advanced than basic programming - you can't do any kind of AI or graphics or computer vision without knowing tons of math.

Again, I didn't say math was useless. I said most of the math taught in school is not useful to normal people.

Please learn to read & write.

Honestly.

[–]xynomaster 0 points1 point2 points 11 years ago (4 children) | Copy Link

Again, I didn't say math was useless. I said most of the math taught in school is not useful to normal people.

What exactly defines a "normal person"?

Most of the algebra taught in school (eg the endless names of things you temporarily memorize) is not useful in real life to most people.

Again, I think it must be your school that is doing a bad job. I've always loved math because it's one of the few subjects where there is NO memorization. You're not memorizing dates and battles for history, memorizing the names of a thousand characters for English, or memorizing the Latin names of a bunch of animals for science. 99% of the material is intuitive and makes sense. Math is supposed to be teaching you why these things make sense, so you don't have to memorize.

I think the only things I had to straight-up memorize in high school math were the quadratic formula and a few of the more arcane differentiation rules.

Again, maybe the way math is being taught is shit, but that doesn't mean the subject itself isn't incredibly useful.

[–]anticapitalist 0 points1 point2 points 11 years ago (3 children) | Copy Link

I've always loved math because

Again, "math" generally is not the topic.

The math taught in school is not useful in the real lives of normal people.

but that doesn't mean the subject itself

I wasn't talking about "the subject itself."

Again:

The math taught in school is not useful in the real lives of normal people.

[–]xynomaster 0 points1 point2 points 11 years ago (2 children) | Copy Link

[–]anticapitalist1 point 11 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link

[–]xynomaster1 point 11 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link

[–]throwaway[S] 0 points1 point2 points 11 years ago (3 children) | Copy Link

[–]anticapitalist -1 points0 points1 point 11 years ago (2 children) | Copy Link

[–]throwaway[S] 0 points1 point2 points 11 years ago (1 child) | Copy Link

[–]jcruyff14 0 points1 point2 points 11 years ago (0 children) | Copy Link