The school officials in Saugus, MA, due to budgetary constraints recently eliminated all non-academic programs. Jeff Jacoby, a columnist for The Boston Globe writes, "Whatever the merits of team sports or cheerleading, they are not essential to a high school education. Math and English are."
I only agree with the second part. Yes, Math and language are somewhat important but not the only important things. If we look at the performance of American students in Math, we don't do a great job teaching Math to our kids. In international competitions our students often rank lower than students from smaller/poorer countries. But why does America continues to lead in so many other areas? Because we have traditionally provided a more wholesome education to our students. Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, India, China, and many other countries provide excellent education in Math but the lack of a wholesome education means that their students do not turn into as many business leaders or entrepreneurs or artists.
As I have argued in my article "Knowledge Economy being replaced by Wisdom Economy", what we don't need are "pure" mathematicians (we can find plenty of them elsewhere and they are probably better and cheaper than us); what we need are all-rounded individuals who can provide leadership, vision, and creativity. That is what will allow us to maintain our global leadership.
I only agree with the second part. Yes, Math and language are somewhat important but not the only important things. If we look at the performance of American students in Math, we don't do a great job teaching Math to our kids. In international competitions our students often rank lower than students from smaller/poorer countries. But why does America continues to lead in so many other areas? Because we have traditionally provided a more wholesome education to our students. Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, India, China, and many other countries provide excellent education in Math but the lack of a wholesome education means that their students do not turn into as many business leaders or entrepreneurs or artists.
As I have argued in my article "Knowledge Economy being replaced by Wisdom Economy", what we don't need are "pure" mathematicians (we can find plenty of them elsewhere and they are probably better and cheaper than us); what we need are all-rounded individuals who can provide leadership, vision, and creativity. That is what will allow us to maintain our global leadership.