and

“[...]Those at my campus planning to teach high school math – and thus who are essentially getting a content degree in mathematics with a few education courses – are known to complain, “why should I have to take this high-level math course when I will never teach this material?” The utter lack of interest in their major subject is astounding. Why are they math majors then? Because with such a shortage of math teachers, they are certain to get a job. And with teachers relatively uninterested in the subject they are teaching, the cycle of poor preparation continues.”

This from a math fan & musician over at the biotunes.org ‘bioblog’ post, “We won’t fix math education without fixing math stigma”. The author goes on to write about the sad state of American math textbooks as well, motivated by profit rather than education.

Wonderful as that post is, it is a description of the problem, not an analysis of the cause.

One possible breadcrumb trail to the cause of the decline of mathematical proficiency in America:

-Math is the basis for the scientific disciplines.

-Biology and Physics can be taken as a form of cosmology, or at least the basic cornerstones of one.

-Weakening those cornerstones in the American public (to the point where critical thinking itself is rarely seen as a good thing) can benefit other cosmologies.

-In the mid-1900’s, one particular cosmology began to gain a much stronger foothold in American politics, especially once we were faced with the “godless communists’.

-However, during the Cold War, even those most theologically opposed to communism realized that we needed math proficiency to win the battle for political superiority and therefore mindshare.

-The Cold War is no longer a factor.

-The addiction to mindshare remains.

Religion-based hatred and discrimination are no longer subtle or even caged. In fact, they are now played up in an attempt to “unify” and manipulate large numbers of people, dollars…and votes.

So, really the question becomes one of, “if this breadcrumb trail is correct, how do we follow it back to a solution”…

And as for a college scholarship, the world is filled with kids who got these scholarships but because they didn’t have the necessary preparation they either failed out of school or got a degree that is worthless because the college alumni made sure there were bogus courses for them to take. Alabama had a scandal a while back when it came out that they had freshmen teaching some courses for athletes.

(You hit a hot button with me, Helen – thanks.)