sburrow wrote:
Very true on both sides. Most students are not there to learn math, they are only there because it is on their degree program for whatever else makes them happy. The students who ARE there for math don't always want to learn it though, for various reasons. And not many of those who want to learn math will actually USE it in their everyday life. So it is a fraction of a fraction of a fraction who need or even care about this stuff. Disappointing? No. As a teacher, my job is to get them to pass the class and have fun while doing it. How do they pass the class and have fun while doing it? Learning the math. Sometimes you pull out the calculator, sometimes you do it by hand. Just because I mention the dreaded "degree mill" doesn't mean I simply pass folks for doing nothing.
I had the opportunity to take calculus in the senior year of high school. But that nearly killed me.
Freshman math at the college I went consisted of the following quarters:
1. Calculus
2. Differential equations
3. Linear algebra
After I was admitted, they sent me two "take-home" exams:
* Basic calculus
* Diff eqs and linear algebra
I took and sent back the first. Tried and did not even bother to submit the second.
I was given the opportunity to skip the first quarter which I foolishly took. I failed diff eqs spectacularly. I would later learn that part of the reason they teach diff eqs is so that you become motivated to avoid doing it whenever possible. I was given a deal:
* Repeat diff eqs in the second quarter and they will forget my first "F"
* Or take linear algebra in the second quarter; if I fail it, I fail both; if I pass it, I get a pass for both. (Our entire freshman year was pass-fail.) I was advised to take the second option. I sailed through linear algebra.
Unfortunately, the entire experience would cause me to lost my previous love for mathematics and that somewhat hampered me later.
sburrow wrote:
Nearly all of what I teach them in math will be forgotten within a year, but how to solve problems WILL stick with them, even if it's not math related at all.
That is essentially what I said above...
sburrow wrote:
What if I were to "take a break" from 6502 land? Would I forget everything I learned in a year? Two years? Ten years? Probably, that's how humans work. But I would take those problem solving skills elsewhere, everywhere. The content can be important and fun, but there is much more to learning than just the content.
I took a long break from programming the 8-bitters when my career became programming the IBM PC. The 680x, 6502, 8080 and Z80 skills came back easily when I got into retrocomputing. Like they say about riding a bike.
Edit: To clarify, senior year calculus did not nearly kill me; diff eqs did.