albania

Leaving aside math for a second, education in general is geared towards training future university professors. Though it's never stated outright, and some others may disagree in some cases the truth of the matter is that the people who are rewarded the most in education are those that have the ability to become university professors.

I don't particularly care much about this, though one can find it disconcerting. Why should we teach children in such a manner when the end goal for the vast majority is not a life in academia? Maybe we shouldn't; maybe if it ain't broke don't fix it.

The pedagogy of teaching high school and pre-high school math then is clearly tied into this train of thought. If the main goal is to train future scientists and academics then by all means keep the current system. If you want to make math "fun" and enjoyable then the answers are easy in my view . Just take away all the rigor, introduce it as a historical subject and change the way in which math is graded(as in take away the x(s) and check marks, and replace them by the more ambiguous notion of grading on correct mathematical ideas and intuition).

To actually comment on the bulk of the text: It seems well written and somewhat entertaining if at times preachy. However, math education and education in general is a bloated field. Though this is not at all what I consider my subject of interest (so take my view with a grain of salt) the impression I get is that even the successful endeavors tend to have a brief flicker then fizzle out and for the most part are relegated to obscurity. I don't think that this one would be any differently received if at all.