<p>This thread really isn't about the importance of high school. When Issac Newton discovered calculus over 300 hundred years ago, he was inspired to figure out how the universe worked and many times could even relate many things to theology. In our high schools today, calculus is merely a number punching drueling grudge match and many students don't even make it to that level. I don't understand, why it isn't taught in a manner that directly relates the math to the history behind it. I would have been much more inspired, instead of messing around with small repetitive calculations that almost every student will immediatly forget and won't use in their lives. I think there should be a history of calculus class mandatory in high school. I feel as though high school and many GE college classes suck the inspiration and creativity out many subject matters. High school just isn't inspiring, I can see why many use the famous quote, "I never let schooling interfere with my education".</p>
<p>I too came to this realization in the past year. The public school system is too focused on regulation and fixing problems. I've been recently researching business and it's interesting that the philosophy of many companies is to focus on the best people, and to fire or leave behind the problem employees.</p>
<p>In schools you see the opposite with standardization and No Child Left Behind.</p>
<p>Oh well, I doubt you'll see many changes to help make learning interesting or to help the advanced students any time soon.</p>
<p>I'll be taking a calculus class next year, so I've considered reading about the "history behind it" as you say. Maybe it will help me to find a reason to enjoy it or at least get through it.</p>
<p>We reap what we sow. If high schools and colleges are uninspiring, what does that tell you about how much we truly value education in this culture? For good or ill, America is famously anti-intellectual; as a result, education is valued primarily as a means to an end, a hoop to jump through as we scurry to the top of the heap.</p>
<p>If you are so interested in the history of calculus nobody is stopping you from reading a bio on Newton. If, like Newton, you want to see the relation between calculus and theology, go to Afghanistan where I am sure the Taliban would be more than willing to help you.</p>
<p>For people who enjoy math, the learning of the calculus and its applications are a reward in an of itself. Your teacher should not only be teaching you "small repetetive calculations" but their application to real life problems like finding maxima and minima states, determining volumes of complexly shaped solids, etc.</p>
<p>Too many students seek instant gratification and desire to merely have fun. Learning the basics like calculus, intro chem, physics lay the foundation for very creative work in engineering and applied science further down the road. However hard work needs to be put in early on to develop the skill set necessary to get there. Your attitude is one reason our country produces so few engineers and scientists compared to developing countries like India and China. Look at the roster of any graduate school of engineering or science and you will see a large percentage of their students being of foreign extraction.</p>
<p>And this should not devolve into a gripe session about our public education system. our public hs's have many fine students and teachers. And the syllibi for teaching the sciences and maths are comparable to private schools.</p>
<p>So while you may desire to dumb down the calculus curriculum to "inspire" you, i say hogwash. Buckle down and prepare to do the hard work necessary to learn the basics of calculus now. And it is hard work for many students. If you desire to be a scientist or engineer I can assure you that the rewards will come down the road. If you do not intend to pursue the sciences/engineering, quit griping and drop AP calc. You will be happier and I suspect your teacher will be as well.</p>
<p>Savedbythebell, I don't really understand your point. On one hand you want to be inspired, on the other hand you don't want to learn the very thing that you want to be inspired by. </p>
<p>Some things aren't inspiring in and of themselves: diagraming sentences, the times tables, memorizing capitol cities of major countries -- we could all go on. But these things are essentials of being educated, the basics, something your high school should be teaching you. History of calculus sounds like a great idea for a class, but it shouldn't be a substitute for calculus itself. That's called watering down the curriculum.</p>
<p>I don't think savedbythebell7 is arguing for "watering down the curriculum." I fact, I doubt that you can really effectively teach an entire year long course on the history of calculus without teaching real calculus at the same time. With that said, I think it would be interesting to teach calculus along with some mention of how its used in practical applications and how it came to be developed. </p>
<p>The current method of teaching calculus is somewhat mechanical. I'm not advocating that we should forego with problem sets and drill sets of integrals and derivatives. However, supplementing that with practical demonstrations and other projects that use calculus applications would not be a far stretch. As with a history course on how calculus came to be...perhaps some outside reading would suffice. Nonetheless, it doesn't make sense to me that calculus students know how to use a derivative yet are completely oblivious to WHY it was developed.</p>
<p>You might like to read Denis Guedj's The Parrot's Theorem (Le theorem du parroquet), a French book (that I believe has been translated into English) that was trying to do for math what Sophie's World did for philosophy. Anyway, it's a pretty enjoyable history of math embedded in a detective novel.</p>
<p>My daughter's college calculus teacher was interested in math history and imported some of it into his teaching. I think the kids appreciated it (my daughter certainly did, though not enough to go so far as actually to like the class); it wasn't anything like a dumbing down of the curriculum. More an attempt to get kids to see how techniques had developed organically in response to specific problems, and how there's often more than one way of approaching a problem (but one way is often better).</p>
<p>If you really want to learn something about the history of mathematics, then you should learn some math first. Otherwise, you will learn some names and dates, but have no real understanding of the challenges, innovations and accomplishments of individual mathematicians.</p>
<p>Businessguy,</p>
<p>You must still be pretty young. NCLB is not an effort to improve education, it is a method to move public education into the for profit arena. This current administration loves to name it's enactments 180 degrees from the intent of it's legislation. (clear sky act)</p>
<p>As far as business weeding out, if you look alittle closer you might find alot of middleaged people being put out, not for lack of productivity but because they are higher up in payscale, cost more to insure and have earned more company benefits (vacation time). The toughest thing to be in America these days is middleaged. Most people working for someone else are walking on eggshells that they won't get downsized next time around. It's a different world than the one you read about in school.</p>
<p>savedbythe bell7, I understand what you are saying. My son took AP Calculus at the high school as a junior. He did well, but didn't enjoy it. The next year he took an engineering class at the community college that used calculus. Suddenly he realized what calculus was good for. It made a big difference in his attitude toward math. As for school sucking the creativity out of subjects, that does often happen. That is one of several reasons we homeschooled most of our classes.</p>
<p>yea, i still dont even know what i was actually figuring out in calculus.. I mean i can do the work but i have no clue what it means..</p>
<p>With that said... Calculus isnt even required so why would a history of calc class be. Im sure calculus is cool and all, but there is no reason for most people to take it.</p>
<p>"yea, i still dont even know what i was actually figuring out in calculus.. I mean i can do the work but i have no clue what it means.."</p>
<p>Well put, they could incorporate some history to the very least, to figure out what Newton was thinking when he discovered. It would make it much more inspiring, applicable and memorable.</p>