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The AMATYC Review Fall 2005, Vol.27, No.1 |
Regarding Basic College Mathematics,
A Ben Hill |
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Ben Hill is a mathematics instructor at Lane Community College
in Eugene, Oregon. He has taught mathematics, statistics, or cultural
anthropology at Oregon Coast Community College, the University of
Maryland Asian Division, and the University of North Dakota. |
| Among math educators, it is a truism that basic college math skills are needed in every career eld. But actually this is a false professional myth. Hardly anyone makes direct use of mathematics beyond arithmetic in the course of everyday life. Moreover, math’s status as an almost universally required college subject is not inevitable. Algebra and calculus could conceivably be relegated to specialists in the same way that Latin has been. This is not a research paper, but an opinion piece intended to provoke re ection and discourse. In a personal and sometimes humorous tone, the author argues that basic college math in fact deserves its position in the college curriculum, though for reasons other than those commonly asserted. By way of conclusion, ideas from the essay are explored in a ctional vignette between one teacher and one student, presented in the form of a one act play. | |