I just passed my first calculus test lubdoods;

[snoorkel]

Don't they teach calculus to 4th graders in Europe? Because that is a really good idea.

It is, imagine how much more interested in math kids would be if calculus was introduced very conceptually and intuitively at a young age

I kind of envy the old days where grade school kids worked out of Euclid's Elements and were doing abstract algebra by high school, now all you hear is "ugh calculus is impossible" (I haven't worked through the whole subject yet but the concepts of limits, integrals, differentials, set theory etc really don't take any stretch of the imagination to grasp) ... the textbooks used in high schools and colleges now (like Stewart's or Larson's) are fucking horrible, so I see why people get that impression

[Nyerp]

"lol why aren't the dumb kids today all smart like me"

[silvertone]

"lol why aren't the dumb kids today all smart like me"

Great POST MODERN attak there. HEART Stabbing IRONY without provding NOThing TO The TABLe except an IMPLEid  statment that You are notTN DUMB. . bravo *auideince calp alot *- [ i jus ddid the sam e thing udi d*+

[snoorkel]

"lol why aren't the dumb kids today all smart like me"

everyone has always been dumb

[PLEASEHELP1991]

I kind of envy the old days where grade school kids worked out of Euclid's Elements and were doing abstract algebra by high school, now all you hear is "ugh calculus is impossible"

Back then, New Math, the movement you are referring to, was widely criticized as impossible by teachers, parents, and students alike.

[snoorkel]

Back then, New Math, the movement you are referring to, was widely criticized as impossible by teachers, parents, and students alike.

I meant the old days (early century). All I was saying was that there's more math to teach now than there was then, yet on average kids know less going into college now than they did then, so we're behind. it's sad to see most schools using shitty serialized macmillan and mcgraw-hill books designed and marketed by 'educational research' companies instead of teaching a more rigorous foundation based on the works of actual mathematicians.

[PLEASEHELP1991]

I meant the old days (early century). All I was saying was that there's more math to teach now than there was then, yet on average kids know less going into college now than they did then, so we're behind. it's sad to see most schools using shitty serialized macmillan and mcgraw-hill books designed and marketed by 'educational research' companies instead of teaching a more rigorous foundation based on the works of actual mathematicians.

plus the us tends to teach math through repetition of concepts: such as place value being reviewed through 1st to 4th grade, teaching addition with only two addends by kindergarden/1st grade... only moving to an arbitrary number of addends in second/third grade.
that's just a lot of time wasted that could have been used on teaching other concepts
it has gotten worse since no child left behind was passed... more review time must be scheduled

[bluaki]

plus the us tends to teach math through repetition of concepts

Throughout my entire K-12 education, I felt like almost the entire first half-year of every math class until pre-calculus was review and topics we were already taught

and the other half of the year always felt like stuff I could at the time learn in a much shorter period
but public education in general is pretty slow, even outside math