I think that if you allow kids to opt out of math.... 99.99% of them will opt out.
Most schools will have no reason to employ a full-time math teacher and the profession will decline and decline.... and future generations will grow up without knowing how to solve an equation... without knowing what an equation is... a function... how to properly add and subtract fractions...
There are a lot of things we have no professional use for, indeed.... but we learn a certain terminology which we then apply in other areas and can draw some parallels.
Also, with no math teacher around, those who would opt-in, would most likely have to move to where there still are math teachers... and how many families have the willingness and finance to do that?
I think you should never give the kids the option to opt-out. They'll miss out on way too much.
This "choice" thing... give kids the ability to chose what they want to learn... reminds me of two TED talks I heard today:
http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_..._of_choice
and
https://www.ted.com/talks/sheena_iyengar...f_choosing
hmmm.... kids don't want to choose.
Keep teaching them math.
We are living in a technological era which involves lots of numbers and it's good to have an idea of how to manipulate them to get useful information out of it...
eg.: 1080p, 16:9.... how many pixels are in your FullHD tv?
eg.2: 12Mpixel camera, 4:3 frame... how many rows of pixels are in this frame?
Most schools will have no reason to employ a full-time math teacher and the profession will decline and decline.... and future generations will grow up without knowing how to solve an equation... without knowing what an equation is... a function... how to properly add and subtract fractions...
There are a lot of things we have no professional use for, indeed.... but we learn a certain terminology which we then apply in other areas and can draw some parallels.
Also, with no math teacher around, those who would opt-in, would most likely have to move to where there still are math teachers... and how many families have the willingness and finance to do that?
I think you should never give the kids the option to opt-out. They'll miss out on way too much.
This "choice" thing... give kids the ability to chose what they want to learn... reminds me of two TED talks I heard today:
http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_..._of_choice
and
https://www.ted.com/talks/sheena_iyengar...f_choosing
hmmm.... kids don't want to choose.
Keep teaching them math.
We are living in a technological era which involves lots of numbers and it's good to have an idea of how to manipulate them to get useful information out of it...
eg.: 1080p, 16:9.... how many pixels are in your FullHD tv?
eg.2: 12Mpixel camera, 4:3 frame... how many rows of pixels are in this frame?
