I sent this to my kids; whether they read it, I have no idea, but they need to understand the importance of Mathematics and its concepts in life.
I found this in one of my favourite RSS feeds, Boing Boing, so you should read there too!
My two favourite paragraphs are very topical to this blog:
Choose math because you will make more money. Winners of American Idol and other “celebrities” may make money, but only a tiny number of people have enough celebrity to make money, and most of them get stale after a few years. Then it is back to school, or to less rewarding careers (“Would you like fries with that?”). If you skip auditions and the sports channels and instead do your homework — especially math — you can go on to get an education that will get you a well-paid job. Much more than what pop singers and sports stars make — perhaps not right away, but certainly if you look at averages and calculate it over a lifetime.
Choose math because you will lose less money. When hordes of idiots throw their money at pyramid schemes, it is partially because they don’t know enough math. Specifically, if you know a little bit about statistics and interest calculations, you can look through economic lies and wishful thinking. With some knowledge of hard sciences you will probably feel better, too, because you will avoid spending your money and your hopes on alternative medicine, crystals, magnets and other swindles — simply because you know they don’t work.
If you want to share something with your kids, share these ideas and tell them what is essential for living a happy life: understanding how the world works! How can you work on debt reduction if you can’t do the math?
