In my neck of the woods there are debates on Mathematics Education being a science or not. It is not Physics, that is for sure, but: Is there a sense in which it is a science?
Mathematics helps in math education, but that does not make it a science.
I've seen my colleagues presenting reports with their students where they try to elicit something from students, and then they write a paper. Will they ever find a Law of Learning from those efforts?
I doubt it.
Then it is not a science, right?
Yes and no, I'll call it disciplined attention to student learning. I do expect improvements, and more kids knowing more math going forward.
In other words not everything has to be a Science, it can't be.
Now to the topic of this note. President Obama gave an interview on Economics to David Leonhardt, published in the NYT Sunday Magazine yesterday (After the great Recession, below).
He seems to be giving those new "astrologers" more time than I feel comfortable with. To the extent that Larry Summers is smart, and may even get a Nobel Prize in Economics like his uncles, Kenneth Arrow and Paul Samuelson, his advice is good, but no Economist can predict future economic events. That is not the kind of Science that Economics is.
I'll feel more comfortable if Steve Chu and Mario Molina were seen more on his side.
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