"My Evolving Call for Change"

                My call for change is to integrate math, statistics and basic computer use into primary education on history and social science.  This would prepare our youth to use the data and tools that are available to make a change in the world today.  This idea germinated in 2014 when I was examining my possible carrier choices as a mathematician.  There is almost nothing that one can do with pure mathematics but teach, however, applying mathematics and computer science allows incredible flexibility in working on solutions to almost any meaningful human problem.   I was inspired by the enlightenment figure Thomas Bayes who invented a math theorem related to probability that was totally unusable in his time and for a hundred years after! (Link first blog)   However, once the early ninety’s came about computers had enough computational power to implement his theorem which is now used to improve machine intelligence and, most importantly to me, several statistical projects relating to human wellbeing.

                “The past called for specialization of a field of knowledge like sociology, math, computer programming, economics or statistics.  Those who specialized typically were the more successful in their research as they could focus on something so specific that no one had attempted it before.  Today is the age in which flexibility is the dominantly trait of a world changing researcher.”(See my first blog)

Mathematics as a Safegaurd

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.