[MATHEDCC] Today's NY Times

Geoffrey Akst (akst@idt.net)
Sun, 17 Aug 1997 10:40:08 -0500

You might want to take a look at today's letters to the editor
(Sunday, August 17) in the New York Times which are mainly devoted to
issues of math education. (This doesn't happen too often.) The letters
are a continuation of the ongoing debate launched by Lynne Cheney some time
ago when she attacked "whole math."

The thrust of the matter seems to be a replay of the new-math,
basic-skills debate of some decades ago. I particularly like the quote
attributed to St. Augustine which one of the contributers cites: "The
danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the
devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of Hell."

Some of my students might well agree!! (:-)

Geoffrey Akst
Mathematics Department
Manhattan Community College
199 Chambers Street
NY, NY 10007
(v) 212/346-8530, -8531, -8532
(f) 212/346-8550
(e) akst@idt.net

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