Lockhart's Lament Mar 18, 2008

Lockhart's Lament. An essay on why the pre-college math curriculum sucks. Favorite quote: "Be honest: did you actually even read it? Of course not. Who would want to?" [Said of the formal proof style introduced in Geometry].

I remember once arguing with a teacher over whether I should be required to prove that 2 is an even number. It seemed so blatantly obvious to me that I couldn't even imagine how to prove it. Turns out my teacher wanted me to write something like "2/2 == 1, and 1 is a whole number, so 2 is even". My jaw went slack.