Education in the 21st Century Mathematics

In the nineteenth century prodigious skills of arithmetic computation was a prerequisite for top employment. During the course of the twentieth century the need for this skill diminished as technology was able to automate arithmetic. In the 21st Century we still insist that the calculation skill is somehow the basis of the rest of mathematics. If a child cannot learn arithmetic, an obsolete skill, he will have a major problem in school. Suddenly poor computational skills becomes a "math disability".

I do not advocate that schools abolish teaching computation. Let there be arithmetic courses, but also let there be mathematical courses where arithmetic is invisible. How you make arithmetic invisible is a matter of taste, but let me share mine.

Use a spreadsheet to present problems in arithmetic facts like an worksheet but with instant feedback and automatic storage of the results. Use a spreadsheet to teach and sharpen the estimation skills of the student.

At the same time you show the commands and formulas one can write in a spreadsheet to automatically get the answers in that same worksheet. That child has learned the arithmetic facts and the spreadsheet becomes an electronic manipulative.

During the rest of Mathematics, arithmetic is invisible and the student is given work problems and uses the spreadsheet to solve them.

For example,

Teach them to use Goal Seek to solve one variable algebra and solver for multivariate equations. If they have learned enough Algebra to write those equations in a spreadsheet then let the spreadsheet take care of the arithmetic.

Another example,

A spreadsheet can produce 2 and 3 dimensional objects that could be used in the more graphic mathematics as Geometry and Trigonometry. The cosine and sine functions are arithmetic free but you have to know when to use them.

This is, of course, is merely a preliminary outline, but the thrust will not change. Teach arithmetic as a desirable skill but teach other parts of mathematics where the student can take the arithmetic for granted. Just like in the workplace of the 21st Century.