alt.education

In article ,
William Elliot wrote:
>On Wed, 12 Mar 2008, Dom wrote:
>> On Mar 11, 11:02=A0pm, William Elliot wrote:
>> > On Tue, 11 Mar 2008, Dom wrote:

>> > > Recently, I was informed about the following third-grade doorstop. I
>> > > can just imagine the amount of rubbish that saturates this junk
>> > > book.

>> > > Title: Math

>> > > Authors: Carne S. Barnett, Diane J. Briars, Warren D. Crown, Martin
>> > > L. Johnson, Steven J. Leinwand, John Van de Walle

>> > Have you read any of it?
>> Not yet, but I have examined numerous similar doorstops.

>What were they like, these works of collective intelligence?

>> > > Weight: 3 pounds

>> > How many pages?

>> # of Pages: 546

>> Year: 2002

>Cost?

>> As long as disgraceful doorstops continue to be written, published,
>> and adopted--starting in elementary school--the pseudo-education of
>> American students will continue unabated. These books should be thrown
>> in the dumpster where they belong.

>Why? They are big and costly and with computer add ons, even bigger and
>more costly. Surely these tomes have discover the merit of value added
>computer add ons. Shame on you anti-capitalist heretic for thinking that
>texts, unlike like cars, don't need to be changed every year or that the
>old texts are better for learning than the new texts. That is false
>thought as determined by EBBS, the Education Board of Brain Standards.

I have never changed cars quickly, or thought that
new texts, or new editions of texts, add anything
to education, IN GENERAL. I do know of exceptions,
like the second edition of Bickel and Doksum's
statistics book, and some others. But when a new
calculus book, or linear algebra book, or cookbook
elementary statistics book appears, my comment is
(some of you can recognize where it comes from):

How does this book differ from all other books?

It is difficult to write a good book which is not
essentially a takeoff from existing books, and if
there is not already a good one, this is the case.
I do not believe that such a book can be written
by one person without collaboration, and I do not
mean different people writing different parts.
At least this is the situation in mathematics and
statistics at all levels.

The only elhi level at which I know of reasonably
good books is the old Euclid type geometry books;
alas, only honors courses now even consider it,
and this can even be reduced by bad teachers.
There are improvements in the axioms and presentation
of geometry, but the most important part, and it
is mandatory in getting an understanding of mathematics,
is the structure of proofs.

>Forlorn am I to scorn
>the land wherein I'm born
>Where creativity is shorn
>to fit some standard norm


--
This address is for information only. I do not claim that these views
are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University.
Herman Rubin, Department of Statistics, Purdue University
hrubin@stat.purdue.edu Phone: (765)494-6054 FAX: (765)494-0558