After discussing melding mathematics, statistics and social
sciences more with a Math Ed graduate student I got to interview one of BYU’s Math
Education Faculty. Our discussion was
insightful as he sympathized with putting data analysis into social science
classes and making math courses somewhat more exploratory in nature.
He naturally cautioned against pushing this too far,
relating that people can learn to think well without mathematics. He did, however, note that even those who are
not interested in researching or using mathematics are often unequipped to evaluate
and avoid financial predation of organizations who understand math and
statistics all too well. He emphasized learning
the math of finance and understanding how to interpret statistical data and
look at both critically. Many people are
deceived by arguments involving numeric data today and there are certain
nuances to this sort of information that most college graduates are sadly
unaware of.
Thomas Hobbs would have called for authority to prevent men
from taking advantage of each other using numbers or finances. I see that is what we need today as well. The authority should build up the common man
with the understanding they need to critically evaluate numeric data and
analysis. This skill can be taught in
mathematics and statistics classes, then also reinforced and applied in social
science classes, and it can be done for youth and adolescents as well.
I am a heavy math/finance guy. Using numbers to explain something makes way more sense to me than anything else. I do think it's important to be able to have multiple ways of thinking because like you mentioned, it helps us not be potentially deceived. It's definitely something I'm still working on, as I learn to change my frame of reference from focusing on what I'm good at, to those areas that need work
ReplyDeleteYeah, you can't argue with numbers. I don't feign data analysis competence. I would actually probably be very bad at certain types. But, are you saying that major programs should be less majory and more core curriculumy? That would be interesting. I actually agree with you to a certain extent.
ReplyDeleteIn my Spanish Translation major, we are taught how to use text corpuses and databases to make decisions in translation. These decisions are often based on statstics and numbers. Although we don't use much math to get them.
I think that it would be beneficial to educated people everywhere if math became more entwined with other aspects of general education and did not live solely in its own class.
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