> The very rudimentary basics will need to be learned by calculating, but anything above the fundamentals can be understood without the calculations.
Generally, I agree with this. But if everybody were to adopt that philosophy, eventually we'd get to the point where nobody could actually implement the calculations for those high level concepts. And then what happens when you need to update the software that's been doing all of that for you?
Does everybody need to know how to calculate? Probably not, above arithmetic and some basic algebra. But a lot of people do, and that needs to be included in their education somewhere.
You're probably aware of all that, but I felt it warrants making explicit.
I am aware of this, but still, thank you for bringing it up as it is an important issue. The software engineers and people who have to interact with more calculations than everyone else would at sometime need to learn them - as you said.
We all believe that calculations need to be taught first, but maybe it is not necessary. Learning the calculations after the bigger concepts has its own advantages. Everyone could start with general education, and those that need it could be taught the more advanced (or one might say, basic) calculations.
Generally, I agree with this. But if everybody were to adopt that philosophy, eventually we'd get to the point where nobody could actually implement the calculations for those high level concepts. And then what happens when you need to update the software that's been doing all of that for you?
Does everybody need to know how to calculate? Probably not, above arithmetic and some basic algebra. But a lot of people do, and that needs to be included in their education somewhere.
You're probably aware of all that, but I felt it warrants making explicit.