The way we teach Arithmatic is almost useless and actively harms scientific fields IMO. A certain amount of literacy is needed, of course, but that's more knowing what tests to use and if your results are making sense.
The number of Mathmaticians I know who can't use the Chain rule to solve a Calculus Problem but are busy exploring the intersection of Bayesian Statistics and Godels theorem is extensive. But they were gently waved through once a math teacher recognised their talent which doesn't happen in the 2nd rank universities.
Dunno how (bad) it is in the USA, but my case is related to the educational system in France. We follow a super rigid tradition instead of opting for separate classes like in other civilized countries, which means inevitably that students who are bad in one subjects will inevitably be hampered if that subject is part of the larger "package".
Anyway, you're right, and I can only hope for a revolution in education, no child deserves to have their dreams crushed.
I'm from Australia, so university at least is similar in that many subjects are set in the course you do. If you're bad at Maths in high school bridging courses and free tutoring is offered for the "hard" sciences in University, at least.
Obviously there's minimum levels of competency at Maths you need to actually do the work. You need stats in Genomics and Molecular Bio, you need hardcore calculus in Astrophysics and there's no real avoiding that because it's an integral part of the day to day work.
But they're not doing a good job of teaching it, and outside of Physical Chemistry and Physics there are usually fields where those weak in maths can go and still contribute significantly, even if it ends up being Admin or Science Communication.
The way we teach Arithmatic is almost useless and actively harms scientific fields IMO. A certain amount of literacy is needed, of course, but that's more knowing what tests to use and if your results are making sense.
The number of Mathmaticians I know who can't use the Chain rule to solve a Calculus Problem but are busy exploring the intersection of Bayesian Statistics and Godels theorem is extensive. But they were gently waved through once a math teacher recognised their talent which doesn't happen in the 2nd rank universities.
Dunno how (bad) it is in the USA, but my case is related to the educational system in France. We follow a super rigid tradition instead of opting for separate classes like in other civilized countries, which means inevitably that students who are bad in one subjects will inevitably be hampered if that subject is part of the larger "package".
Anyway, you're right, and I can only hope for a revolution in education, no child deserves to have their dreams crushed.
I'm from Australia, so university at least is similar in that many subjects are set in the course you do. If you're bad at Maths in high school bridging courses and free tutoring is offered for the "hard" sciences in University, at least.
Obviously there's minimum levels of competency at Maths you need to actually do the work. You need stats in Genomics and Molecular Bio, you need hardcore calculus in Astrophysics and there's no real avoiding that because it's an integral part of the day to day work.
But they're not doing a good job of teaching it, and outside of Physical Chemistry and Physics there are usually fields where those weak in maths can go and still contribute significantly, even if it ends up being Admin or Science Communication.