Comments by "John Berry" (@user-ud6ui7zt3r) on "Thomas Sowell"
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I took more math (to get my 2-year AS Computer Science and Math degree) than my prior 8th grade Math Teacher (who had a Masters Degree and a Teaching Certificate.) Here's my story...
Right after I graduated from my 2-year Associates Degree (majoring in both Computer Science and Mathematics), I couldn't find a Computer Science job in the private sector, so I went back to my college and signed-up to be a tutor. This turned out to be a great choice. I then decided to go back to both my high school and my junior high school (with the intent to sign-up to be a tutor in Math.) Things got interesting when I went over to my previous junior high school.
When I went into the main office of my junior high school, I told the ladies there what I was up to, and they told me that I would have to speak with the "head" of the junior high school's Math department. I asked "who's that?", and they told me the name of my prior 8th grade math teacher. I replied "he still works here?!?", with a bit of surprise in my voice. Anyways, I walked down the appropriate hallways, located my prior math teacher, and we began to have an interesting chat. He asked me "What math have you taken?", and I told him Calculus, Linear Algebra, Numerical Analysis, and Differential Equations. He immediately told me "Back when I got my Masters, they didn't require us to take Linear Algebra (nor Numerical Analysis nor Differential Equations.)" I was astounded! From what I could discern, his Masters degree was more about psychology classes than it was about learning math. By the way, this all happened in New York State. Also, this all happened many years before anybody had conceived of STEM or STEAM programs.
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Personally, I think that every child in America, despite what their public school or their teachers might tell them, should commit themselves to believing that they are capable of learning anything, up to any degree of proficiency. That said, I think that such children, as soon as possible, should discover the Khan Academy videos (which are all over YouTube.) On top of that, I think a group of wise people should identify approximately 15 high-quality textbooks, and that anyone who wants a world class education should commit themselves to reading (cover to cover) every book in this yet-to-be-identified list of textbooks. If I could recommend at least one textbook for this proposed list, it would be a Calculus textbook (which was written by Howard Anton; I believe he taught at Drexler University) titled simply Calculus with Analytic Geometry. This textbook went through many published editions, across many years. I would recommend finding a used copy that was published around the years 1982 through 1985.
You know, in many ways, attending a college lecture is a lot like your days back when you were in either the 1st grade or kindergarten, when you would walk to the Library (the one within the walls of your elementary school building), and once there, sit on a carpet as a group, and listen to the librarian read to you from a book. Similarly, at a college lecture, the lecturer is presenting to you information that you could have read, all on your own, from a book. Ask yourself this... do you really need someone TO READ TO YOU, just as if you were still in either the 1st grade or kindergarten? Of course not. In the end, to get through college, you still have to take the time TO ACTUALLY READ textbooks. There is no getting around this. These days, because of well-crafted YouTube videos, life is actually easier, because the identical Textbook Information is now all in video format, all over YouTube.
If I was empowered to, I would ordain that every school-age child could avoid public school, altogether, and, instead, spend their years (up until the age of 19) reading from the list of 15 high-quality textbooks, that I have proposed. In my opinion, it would be a much better use of time.
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