Being divorced from reality I think is what kills it. When you’re made to memorise formulas without knowing how they were arrived at, why, what problem was being solved - you’re not really learning anything.
This short extract is a good example; being taught nonsense by uninspiring robots is bound to kill one’s interest in a subject.
Exactly, and I think this is an issue with the way a lot of subjects are taught, not just maths. At least from my experience and way of learning, I find it very difficult to just remember formulas and facts. It’s often more useful to have a deeper understanding of how they were arrived at, why they are important, and how they are used rather than just memorising the actual formula or facts itself - these can be easily be looked up as needed.
See I’m the opposite, I can memorise very well. But memorisation and recall is itself a skill, one that isn’t taught basically at all anymore, but which I managed to teach myself through interest in the subject.
But nobody is interested in a formula for the sake of a formula. They could be interested in it’s application or it’s history or weird quirks, but learning a formula itself is basically like learning how to say something in a foreign language but you don’t know what it means - you can remember it to pass a test, but won’t remember it 5 years later.
With maths there is tons of interesting stuff, a good teacher could easily make fifteenth century nautical tables interesting to a class of teenage boys even if it is pointless, but as Lockhart laments - their job is to teach the syllabus so those boys are ready for whatever bullshit they will be forced to learn in next year’s curriculum and all that does is sap more and more joy out of kids every year until everyone despises maths, which nobody should because maths is actually really fun!
Give this one a read Phil, it might reawaken something in you too.
https://annas-archive.org/md5/fdf0bef74e46b0bbba426246a7f2782a
Memory and recall is an interesting thing in itself. I find I have a very good memory for some things - I can often recall events or even conversations I’ve had with someone many years later in a lot of detail after others have forgotten. I don’t remember formulas and facts well though..
I’ll definitely have a read of this book!
