Mathematics and Democracy: The Case for Quantitative Literacy

by Lynn Arthur Steen (Editor)

Book by

Genres: Teaching

Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Vernin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not for folks who are not personally engaged (or enraged) by the lack of numeracy in the public and in the current generation of students entering the university. While it speaks to the obvious, it does contain variety of perspectives from an interesting selection of experts. It would have been nice to see some attention given to the student demographic that is rapidly becoming the majority (ethnic minorities attending public schools who are not ESA) but certain of the contributors reflect on the status of public schools in their approach to numeracy and mathematics instruction. I give it fewer stars because of it being less worthy of layman interest. The case presented is however strong and a welcome resource for future work and arguments of this sort.

[Mari]

995420 i picked this book off the street and have not been disappointed. i hadn't read anything about numeracy to date, and got excited about writing about it for the education magazine i write for...it says that math instruction in schools quickly goes from practical to abstract, and that only a few people really grasp the abstract stuff, and only a few of those people are actually able to feed themselves with this knowledge. it says math has so many more possibilities for enriching our lives with usable knowledge, and that that is what numeracy is...

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steen has been working to include quantitative literacy (QL) in public education since the 1990 publication, "On the Shoulders of Giants." This work is built up from a decade of that effort. The authors make a clear and well-defined case for why QL should be included in education, what it is, what it isn't, and how failing to produce a numerate society will impact the future of the nation. This scholarly text is accessible to the general public, and is recommended for anyone who has an interest in increasing the ability of the average person to reason effectively.