The Last Time You Used Algebra Was ...

This provocative phrase titled an article in The New York Times on Sunday, December 12, 2004, Section 4, Page 3, describing the recent OECD report on the math skills of United States students. The OECD survey ranked the US students as 28th out of 40 countries surveyed.

There are three sorts of utilitarian reactions to these kinds of reports. One is to complain that the surveys are unfair: average US students are compared to elite students in other countries. A second reaction is the gloomy prediction that poor math skills will impair the US economy. A third reaction comes from "the Peggy Sue school of thought, which asks: So what?" Only in a small set of specialties does math aptitude and skill really matter in being able to do the work. The rest of us can rely on calculators, spreadsheets, and printed cards specifying a 15%, 18%, and 20% gratuity.

But what struck me most in this article was the last paragraph, attributed to a certain Miss Collins, a math teacher at a school for young women:

"What we do isn't exactly what mathematicians do," she explained. "And I know that more alums here become artists than become mathematicians. But kids don't study poetry just because they're going to grow up to be poets. It's about a habit of mind. Your mind doesn't think abstractly unless it's asked to -- and it needs to be asked to from a relatively young age. The rigor and logic that goes into math is a good way for your brain to be trained."

Amen.