Task: Manifesto Analysis
Group Name: Team Organic Facial Foam Date: September 19, 2019 Score:
Title of the Manifesto: Manifesto on the Teaching of Mathematics
Purpose of the Manifesto:
To convince the students of the value
and importance of what they are studying
and should not force themselves through
a repetitive obstacle course.
Intellectual Mathematics
should not be confused with
what passes for ”reform”
teaching.
Intellectual Mathematics is
written for the intellectual
Stand/ fulfillment of the reader.
Claims of
the
Manifesto
Traditional mathematics is
anti-human.
To guide and encourage the
student’s own process of
learning by setting suitable
challenges and by stimulating
thought and reflection.
Visions
Pledges I have coined the phrase
“Intellectual Mathematics”
for the teaching philosophy I
have in mind.
We want students to be able
to think and reason and apply
what they know in new
situations. We do not want to
create robots or parrots or
one-trick ponies.
Demands
or call
for
Actions We must always seek out the
broader meaning of what we
are studying through its
application and
interconnections with other
ideas.
Reasons, Reference,
Justifications of Claims/Pledges
Stated in the Manifesto
Everything we have said about the
traditional approach applies
equally well to “reform”
approaches, because what is
called “reform” pertains almost
exclusively to surface form, not
substance.
It seeks the most satisfying
explanations, the most vivid
illustrations, and the most
compelling motivations. It also
means that it engages our
intuition whenever possible.
It fetishizes robotic
manipulation of symbols and
involves no emotions except a
crippling fear of genuine and
free human thought.
The role of the teacher is not to
make life easy for students by
giving crystal clear lectures
predictable tests.
Its fundamental principle is to
treat students with the greatest
possible intellectual respect.
Learn something we must always
inquire why it is so, and that we
must answer these questions
according to our own judgment,
not by mimicking some external
standards of rigor and proof.
No reasons stated.