More than ever, the question “what to teach?” is taking a central position in the debate on mathematics education.
Not even a year ago, Sol Garfunkel and David Mumford wrote an op-Ed piece in the New York Times titled how to fix our math education? In which they invite us to “imagine replacing the sequence of algebra, geometry and calculus with a sequence of finance, data and basic engineering.” Of course, the opposition to those ideas is still vibrant; as Alexei Sossinsky illustrates with a recent piece in French titled “Applied Math in school? No!” And to counter the traditionalist point of view, Garfunkel and Mumfor suggest that the current belief that pure mathematics teaches useful abstract reasoning skills might be similar to the old belief that studying Latin improves literacy skills.
All in all, this occurs to me as a problem of learning outcomes. What do we want our students to learn about mathematics? How are we going to resolve between providing tools for all citizens and creating a fertile environment for future generations of scientists and engineers.