Math is taught so poorly that I am rather skeptical that this generalizes. I was fairly terrible at math ( although I scored well on tests and was able to struggle through it ) until I was in a junior year course that was used for discrete math, which went into proofs, and from that point on, it was simply no longer a problem.
But because I was specialized towards mathematics, I had been ... "inconvenienced" in favor of "easier" courses for the non-specialists. I think there's a severely unexamined premise in that state of affairs - but I have to ask - would others be as math-phobic if they really knew how it worked?
The head of the math/sci department literally said "Calculus keeps the dumb people outta med school" - and he was only partly kidding.
The question is - is rigor, even partial, informal rigor ( if that even makes any sense ) of value to everyone or not? It's obviously painful. But it really helps with goal of not being a sucker.
But because I was specialized towards mathematics, I had been ... "inconvenienced" in favor of "easier" courses for the non-specialists. I think there's a severely unexamined premise in that state of affairs - but I have to ask - would others be as math-phobic if they really knew how it worked?
The head of the math/sci department literally said "Calculus keeps the dumb people outta med school" - and he was only partly kidding.
The question is - is rigor, even partial, informal rigor ( if that even makes any sense ) of value to everyone or not? It's obviously painful. But it really helps with goal of not being a sucker.