"When was the last time you were truly energized by ideas?"

The Cato University Home Study Course.

Not cheap but certainly valuable.

The New Age of Ignorance

As a follow-up to my last post concerning the systemic and intentional attempts to dissuade students from studying mathematics, I thought I would just offer a pointer to this, by way of the Edge, article from The Guardian:

The New Age of Ignorance

We take our young children to science museums, then as they get older we stop. In spite of threats like global warming and avian flu, most adults have very little understanding of how the world works.

Mathematics: Seriously, Just Say "No!"

In a previous post, I commented on a trend in the UK where students were being discouraged from taking "unnecessary," higher level mathematics classes. By way of Slashdot, it seems that is is an issue in Australia as well. The poster states and asks:

"The claim is that Australian schools are actively discouraging students from taking upper level math courses to boost their academic results on school league tables. How widespread is this phenomenon? Are schools taking similar measures in the US and Canada?"

I ask again: Will science education in the classroom be dead by the time my kids go to school?

Language Skills

A friend lamented yesterday that he didn't know a language other than his native tongue and that he had never really left his home country. Up until a few years ago, I was in the same boat. While I can't do much for sending someone to foreign locales, here are a few options for acquiring new language skills:

• Foreign Language Lesson Podcast Collection at Open Culture
• BBC Languages
• BBC's Muzzy language courses for kids
  
• Foreign Languages and Literatures through MIT's OpenCourseWare
• Rosetta Stone language software
• Living Language audio and text collections

If anyone else has suggestions, I'd love to know them.

Mathematics: Just Say No!

I previously wondered what the state of science education would be like when my children go to school. Now I know: "Pupils are being discouraged from taking A-level maths as schools in England chase higher places in the league tables."

"The Royal Society of Chemistry said that as maths was a difficult subject, schools feared examination failures which would threaten their standings. Chief executive Richard Pike also said universities were increasingly having to run remedial classes in maths.

. . .

Dr Pike said: 'Schools and students are reluctant to consider A-level mathematics to age 18, because the subject is regarded as difficult, and with league tables and university entrance governed by A-level points, easier subjects are taken.'"

---

I don't have a background in mathematical education but was an applied mathematics undergrad at UConn where there were a surprising number of "math-ed" students.

A quick search through the AMS archives found this collection of articles on mathematics education in NOTICES of the American Mathematical Society.