Should We Stop Teaching Math?
When I was in college, I learned the then-cutting-edge skill of computer 3D modeling and animation. I trained using Alias Studio and Power Animator, $40,000 software running on a $70,000 SGI computer. At the time, this software was light-years ahead of the competition, the only real option for high-end 3D work.
The company behind the software had a secret weapon—one of their employees, known in the industry as the "Head of Cool Shit." Somehow, he consistently developed tools that left us all in awe. It was like watching magic unfold on a computer screen.
At the annual conference in LA, I had the chance to meet him. I was a little starstruck. I asked him what kind of math he had to master in order to create such groundbreaking software tools. His answer surprised me.
He told me that he does the same math as any other computer scientist, but he credited his insights to music. He explained that playing multiple musical instruments—learning, practicing, and enjoying the process—had developed his mind in ways that made him more creative when he sat down to code.
This conversation often comes to mind when I suggest that we stop teaching kids math the way we do today. The most common argument I hear against this idea is that learning math builds mental pathways that students will rely on throughout their lives. In other words, even if math itself can be done far better by computers, the mental training it provides is valuable enough that we can’t dispense with it.
But there are serious problems with this theory.
First, there’s no evidence to support it. It’s a little like saying that because swinging a sledgehammer builds muscle and coordination, kids should spend time swinging a sledgehammer. While it is true swinging a sledge will develop muscle and maybe coordination, it's doubtful that swinging the sledge is the best way to reach our goal of a healthy and coordinated adult.
Second, it ignores what students might be doing with their minds instead. As in the example above, a developing child might be better off engaging in a range of activities—music, logic, philosophy, ethics, psychology—rather than spending time solving straightforward mathematical computations.
And while a child may never use the algebra skills they’re forced to learn, they will use AI and other computer technologies. So instead of teaching them to manually perform math that a machine can do faster and better, why not teach them how to use that machine effectively?
Why not teach the concepts behind AI-assisted math and the real-world scenarios where it’s beneficial? An average student should be able to grasp an entire year’s worth of algebra in a week by learning the underlying concepts and the AI tools that apply them.