Welcome to the New World Order, Where Everybody “Gets Math”

As we all know, the world ended recently (December 21, 2012).  Being mathematicians and scientists, we will use the more specific statement:  After December 21, 2012 (on the typical Western calendar), human life on Earth changed in a basic way.  I think we’d all agree with this statement as being so obvious a statement that it might seem trivial.

However, what is not so obvious is the information I have recently acquired concerning the nature of this change.  Through the sophisticated work of quarks, photons, and Marvin the Martian, everybody will now ‘get math’.  We will no longer have students ask ‘when will I use this’, because they will understand the math and appreciate the innate value of this understanding.  No longer will we have students say “I’ve always been terrible at math”, though a few might have a nagging feeling that they weren’t always really good at math.

In this new world order, math will not filter students from any field of study or life work.  This will not mean that all students will have STEM majors; this is okay … we need some people who are not geeks or nerds about math & science, who choose to learn the truly hard stuff that normal people do not get (like arts, language, and psychology).

We will, of course, have a difficult period of adjustment.  In math classes, we are accustomed to spending a great deal of energy on motivation and confidence; it will take time for us to change, and we can just hope that our students will be patient with us as we struggle with their competence with math.

The only serious point in this post is this:

Sometimes, we expect most students to have trouble understanding math; perhaps we would be better served by a possibly baseless optimism that most students can “get math”.

“Go math in 2013!!”

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Fractions Lament

I am a fraction, and woe is me.  Nobody seems to understand my talents.  People have a prejudice against fractions, you know.  [I hesitate to say that there is ratial profiling, but it’s not pretty.]

People on the street say they hate me, without ever bothering to really look at me.  Is it my fault that they only remember their own difficulties with mechanics and procedures to generate answers involving things that resemble me?  If only they would look at the beauty and usefulness of fractions like me … they would find that fractions can be their friend.  [Look for me on Facebook!]   Fractions are much better than those elitist snobs, the integers; integers think that they are the greatest thing since sliced bread … but let me tell you that there are an infinite number of fractions for every integer.  The world could live without integers, but take away fractions and people would be back in their caves — without their iPads and Blackberry.

Then there are the math teachers!  You would think that math teachers would be enthusiastic about showing people how great fractions can be.  What do they do instead?  They tell students that you have to learn about greatest common factors and least common multiples, before you can ‘work’ with fractions.  Don’t they know that the GCF and the LCM are part of the integer conspiracy?  They make a big deal of mixed numbers; hey, if I want to hang around with an integer I will let you know — until then, I am happy being a fraction, thank you very much.  And ‘reducing’ fractions?  You (teachers) should talk; have you looked in the mirror lately?  I don’t think I am the one that needs reducing.

I am a fraction.  I can show much more than how many cups of flour you need to make 3/4 of a recipe; that’s boring stuff.  The good stuff is when a fraction lets you compare the rate of different groups of students to make sure that they are all getting the benefit of passing that math class.  A fraction lets you communicate about a rate.  [Did I tell you that my first cousin Marcel is a second derivative? He is one beautiful fraction!]  That reminds me … fractions make it pretty easy to convert one measurement to different units; you’ve just got to line up the units to get rid of versus the ones you need in the answer.  A fraction can also tell you what the chances are for having 2 boys and 2 girls in that family you want; that’s a beautiful thing by itself, isn’t it?

I am a fraction.  Don’t show me that cute picture with 8 parts and 5 shaded; even if I was 5/8 I would not like that picture.  Sure, I can show how many parts are there, just like certain integers can show how many pieces of candy are in the bag.  How would you like it if somebody showed a stick figure and said “this is Jennifer”?  You are more than a stick figure; I am much more than parts shaded in a drawing.

I am a fraction.  It’s time you saw me, and understand me.  I can’t make you love me, or even respect me.  However, I promise that I will do my part if you give me a chance/

 
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