In the last decade, we Classical educators have been “faking it”. When asked about mathematics at conferences and in training sessions we have given benign answers at best.
Our math teachers are hungry for the same quality and quantity of meal that we have fed our humanities teachers by way of the Trivium.
And rightly so. It’s the seven liberal arts, not the three. Victor Hugo asserted that “there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” If anyone is waiting for someone far away and obscure to make it official – I will: Christian classical education needs a massive and radical reformation in mathematics.
So, what do we do? Here’s a start and a hint:
The start – examine the Lost and Found blog on the website under the heading “Educating People for Slavery” and look closely at the example that Andrew uses from Alegebra.
The hint: let’s at least apply the same principles that we have applied to grammar, logic, and rhetoric to math, viewing it as a human endeavor to interpret reality by using a set of conceptual symbols…a language.
Viewing math as a language, I think, is the first and foremost key to recovering a “free”, yea – liberal, approach to mathematics.
