OK. I'm a math geek. I always have been. Loved it. Excelled in it. Once hit an 800 on a major standardized test. But, because of the importance of math in every day life, I always wondered all through school why so much home work was just problems. I remember in college when I took an applied calculus class, it made calculus come alive. I wasn't just studying how a function gives me a certain curve and what that meant in terms of acceleration and velocity, but I had some understanding about how it represented the marginal costs or revenue for my company.
Not all students will take calculus, but most of what people need is algebra and geometry. If more geometry problems deal with construction or home decoration, those concepts of shapes sizes and the calculations associated with them would be much more useful. Students would put algebra in a new perspective also. A student how might be studying basic business could develop a budget and a profit model. A student who wanted to be a carpenter or contractor could put mathematical concepts to work on projects. Art students could work out proper proportions.
These ideas appeared in an opinion piece in The New York Times by Sol Garfunkel and David Mumford. However, this can't be the first time that someone has thought of such a basic modification to our educational system. Of course, the change would be detrimental to text book publishers everywhere and to math teachers who may never have applied their math to any real situation. It might also require modifications to state standards as well as state assessments. In other words, what should be a simple change could end up being a very expensive and time consuming change. Nothing in educational change it easy.
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