CompuServe Messages

>> I can't understand why the grades schools are stressing the need for more math and science teaching? What are we preparing these kids for, empty job markets?? The purpose of teaching math and science in grade school isn't so that we can train mathematicians, any more than we teach english so that we can train poets. The important thing in math is to teach an awareness of manipulation of numbers, so when these students grow up and become decision making adults, they can understand what a trillion dollar budget is, what compound interest means, how to balance a checkbook, how to make a monthly budget, whether 16 ounces of peas at 55 cents is a better or worse deal than 12 ounces for 35 cents… We teach science partly because we want to teach critical thinking, to teach how to evaluate experiments (if my car doesn't start, and I change the battery, and it still doesn't start, should I change the battery again?) and partly to give the student a clue about the world in which he or she lives. We still have PE classes, even though very few students become professional athletes.