You are viewing a single thread.
View all comments View context
11 points

You say that but I’ve heard concerningly many people say that there is no point in teaching everyone stuff like basic math because chances are they won’t use it

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

I also hear that argument often and I absolutely hate it. They always say “tech them things like insert manual labor work. Nobody needs Math.”

It always depends. A lot of people will likely never use a saw outside of school. Especially in a time where a lot of people go to university the skills that complex math teaches you are basically the bare necessitys. Also school usually is teaches you the basic broad knowledge and skills required to get more specific education on a specific topic. This includes studying all different subjects and also getting training as a woodworker. It is literally impossible to focus on everything and that also isn’t really the use of school. Its just the first and universal form of education.

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

Besides all that manual labor requires math. A ton requires geometry.

You think plumbing, framing, electrical or any trade is done without measuring and quite complicated math?

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points
*

Especially in America. Sure just cut that board down to 29-13/64 inches…and remember the blade is 1/8" thick.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

India just removed pythagorean theorem from their educational curriculum for the very reason you mentioned.

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

I’ve already seen this exact same claim these days, so now I decided to try and find out what’s happening exactly.

https://www.dw.com/en/indiadropsevolution/a-65804720

Apparently, it happened last year, not just now, as you said, and I’m sure I’ve already seem someone else (maybe on Lemmy, maybe on reddit) also describe it as a very recent event.

However I can’t find absolutely anything else regarding the topic. So I tried googling in Hindi instead, with the help of some machine translation.

https://www.aajtak.in/education/news/story/pythagoras-theorem-has-vedic-has-roots-karnataka-panel-proposes-to-sanskrit-as-a-third-language-1496805-2022-07-10

This is the only piece of news I’ve managed to find, again not very recent, and not nearly as dramatic as the DW article makes it out to be. Some official has described the Pythagorean theorem as ‘fake news’ because that same theorem had already been developed in India before Pythagoras, i.e. the point is that the name is a misnomer. They say nothing about removing the theorem.

The reduction of teaching of the periodic table and evolution that DW mentions is also explained in the PDF that the article links as mere reorganisation of the topics due to the circumstances (difficulties in teaching during corona). They don’t suggest actual removal of the topics. (The PDF is an official explanation from the Indian “National Council of Educational Research and Training”.)

I’m getting the impression DW is just fearmongering. Ideally there should be some article with exact and complete quotes in Hindi. I know that media freedom in India is not great (esp. considering the situation with Wikipedia), and it’s probably not easy to get to the bottom of it, but this story looks very suspicious.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

You know more than me then. I was just irresponsibly repeating a headline I saw on Lemmy yesterday

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

Even carpenters and masons need geometry

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

Do they though? You need like one guy on the job who understands that stuff, and then a bunch a grunts with speed squares.

permalink
report
parent
reply

Science Memes

!science_memes@mander.xyz

Create post

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don’t throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

Community stats

  • 11K

    Monthly active users

  • 3.2K

    Posts

  • 51K

    Comments