A mathematician's lament : [how school cheats us out of our most fascinating and imaginative art form

“One of the best critiques of current mathematics education I have ever seen.”—Keith Devlin, math columnist on NPR’s Morning Edition A brilliant research mathematician who has devoted his career to teaching kids reveals math to be creative and beautiful and rejects standard anxiety-producing teaching methods. Witty and accessible, Paul Lockhart’s controversial approach will provoke spirited debate among educators and parents alike and it will alter the way we think about math forever. Paul Lockhart , has taught mathematics at Brown University and UC Santa Cruz. Since 2000, he has dedicated himself to K-12 level students at St. Ann’s School in Brooklyn, New York. “One of the best critiques of current K-12 mathematics education I have ever seen, written by a first-class research mathematician who elected to devote his teaching career to K-12 education.” —Keith Devlin, NPR's “Math Guy”A brilliant research mathematician reveals math to be a creative art form on par with painting, poetry, and sculpture, and rejects the standard anxiety-producing teaching methods used in most schools today. Witty and accessible, Paul Lockhart's controversial approach will provoke spirited debate among educators and parents alike, altering the way we think about math forever.Paul Lockhart is the author of Arithmetic, Measurement, and A Mathematician's Lament. He has taught mathematics at Brown University, University of California, Santa Cruz, and to K-12 level students at St. Ann's School in Brooklyn, New York. Lockhart speaks "against the way mathematics is taught in too many schools--as a rigid system of mindless algebraic rules with little meaning and very little beauty. Lockhart who has been a math researcher as well as a K-12 math teacher."--Publisher's description Foreword Part I. Lamentation Mathematics and Culture Mathematics in School The Mathematics Curriculum High School Geometry: Instrument of the Devil Part II. Exultation A manifesto for freeing math from the drudgery of traditional teaching by a brilliant mathematician.