Not that it needs to be said, but I posted this to spark discussion, rather than because I wholly agree or disagree with it. I personally think people should just study what they want whenever they want to, and for many people that will include neither calculus nor advanced statistics, and this is perfectly fine. Of course, others will want to study one or the other or both of those, at some point when they're young or maybe only developing an interest in them when older or whatever, and that's perfectly fine too...
As for the idea, implicit in so much discussion of this sort, that the workforce demands we all become data scientists... eh. It's not nearly true, and if it were, what a sad world that would be.
Tl;dr: Calculus is great. But only for students who have some interest in it or its uses. Down with mandatory calculus! And down with mandatory statistics as well! Freedom!
Without reading the article, but being familiar w/ the learn-what-you-want movement, it's important to know how subjects are useful IRL. This is usually where the teaching of mathematics fails students, after learning adding and subtraction so you can make change.
Regardless of subject, there should be intro courses covering the usefulness/benefits/pleasure of mankind's body of knowledge.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 14.2 ms ] threadAs for the idea, implicit in so much discussion of this sort, that the workforce demands we all become data scientists... eh. It's not nearly true, and if it were, what a sad world that would be.
Tl;dr: Calculus is great. But only for students who have some interest in it or its uses. Down with mandatory calculus! And down with mandatory statistics as well! Freedom!
Regardless of subject, there should be intro courses covering the usefulness/benefits/pleasure of mankind's body of knowledge.