Hello ... it's 2010!

I had the opportunity to attend the T-Cubed International Math Conference in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago, and I left having had my eyes opened a bit on some issues as they pertain to what I do for a living.

The main thing I left with is that for the most part, we are still stuck in the past when it comes the math instruction. We are stuck in the clasical age, where students are prepped to take Calculus, as if Calculus is the ultimate goal in math instruction. If students desire to study medicine, engineering, physics, architecture and maaaayyyyybe Economics, then yes, Calculus is a major part of those curricula. Yes, we want to continue to develop students that will go on to study in these fields, but we're talking about a relatively small percentage of our students. As for the majority of students, the math curriculum needs to shift away from classical math and more towards data analysis. There isn't a job in this world with decision-making authority that does not involve being able to properly collect data, to properly analyze data and to make good decisions based on this analysis. So for the majority of students, shouldn't an understanding of Statistics prove more valuable? Not to memtion that the majority of students simply cannot handle the complexity of Calculus - that has always been the case and will always be the case.

In the study of statistics, we need to incorporate technology as much as absolutely possible. Requiring students to memorize formulas and to perform manual calculations in a day where they can get anything they need with two clicks of a mouse has got to be eliminated. And finding the funding to equip classrooms with the technology and training the teachers to use it properly is also a huge challenge going forward.