Why Math Rocks
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Just me on Wednesday, September 10, 2008 8:00 AM
Since our discussion about education, I’ve been thinking about an aspect of the topic that is dear to my heart.
I feel very strongly about this:
Math and science are awesome for everyone.
The small Catholic liberal arts college from which I graduated required that all students take one semester of mathematics and two semesters of science as part of the core curriculum, acknowledging that a true liberal arts education includes study of those disciplines along with the more artistic and verbal ones. Many of my fellow students did not appreciate this requirement. “When,” they demanded, heatedly, “will I ever use this math? How is it helping me?”
My situation was different from my fellow students’ because I’d been studying engineering before I transferred to the liberal arts college. This meant that I’d taken more math (four semesters of calculus) and more science (including physics and organic chemistry) than most of my fellow liberal arts students could even think about without shuddering.
When I started my first semester at my new college, we all had to take an introductory philosophy course as part of the core. Most of my fellow students had never taken philosophy before. I’d never taken philosophy before. A lot of my fellow students really struggled with that class. I enjoyed it, and the material came very easily.
It wasn’t because I had a vastly superior intellect. I soon realized it was because my brain had been trained by the math and science I’d taken. I hadn’t read philosophers or studied syllogisms but I’d done three-dimensional integrals and analyzed molecular structure. Doing those things, I’d learned to think systematically, and transferring those thinking skills from mathematical concepts to philosophical concepts was not difficult.
They may criticize math and science, but perceptive students taking a good philosophy course will never say “When will I use this? How is it helping me?” because it is self-evident that philosophy prepares its students to understand the world around them and to live life well. In the same way, mathematics and science help their students to understand the world around them by teaching them to think clearly and critically. Math and science are not in themselves sufficient to educate the whole person, but they are an important part of the process.
I understand that math and science don’t come easily to everyone, and I’m not saying that one must study calculus and organic chemistry to reap the benefits of that aspect of education. It is simply stretching one’s mind to follow a symbolic logical concept - from the first time one understands that 1+1=2 - that helps the mind to grow, and the person to grow likewise. That’s the answer to “when will I ever use this?”: you may not use this exact concept, but you will use your mind in other ways, and simply learning this concept has helped you be able to do it better.
Can I get a big cheer for the math and the science? C’mon! If it doesn’t kill you, it will make you that much stronger.
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