Mathematics takes Effort
Keith Devlin’s latest article is about students’ apparently decreasing ability to deal with the fact that mathematics takes effort. I have to say: isn’t this an obvious trend? There are lots of factors that contribute to this: the rise in graphing calculators, the impression given by popular culture that mathematics is for freaks, and that you can’t be good at it unless you were born a genius (notice, e.g. on Andromeda that Harper is a well-rounded genius: he excells at everything from bioengineering to mathematics; in general, there doesn’t seem to be much of a distinction made between being knowledgable in one science, and being knowledgable in all, or even simply being scientifically literate and being a genius; the choices are Jack O’neill or Samantha Carter). It’s also the case, IMO at least, that mathematics is tied into the more spiritual/artistic pursuits: music, for one, and especially philosophy— for no other reason than these are other pursuits that require dedication and focus to do well in. Clearly the trend is to relegate these pursuits to PhDs— so no one is motivated at a young age to develop their mental capacity in them. There’s a reason all the mathematical geniuses seem to have come way before our time.