Gresham's Law : Algorithm Drives Out Thought
S. K. Stein · Humanistic Mathematics Network Journal · 1996
Gresha m 's law in economics says, " Bad money d rives good money ou t of circulat ion." Cop per replaces silver; silver, gold.Gresham's law in mathematical ped agogy can be st ated several w ays." Algorith m drives ou t tho ug h t." "The rob otic d isplaces the humanistic.""Cultivation of a lgori thms replaces concern for thinki ng and writing."We view colleges and universities ideally as places tha t develop the ability to th in k ana lytically, to p robe independently, to resolve the open-ended problem , to write and speak clearly.Though the ca talog ma y not mention them, these goals are in th e backs o f our minds when \v e picture ourselves as teachers.In the catalog we fin d descrip tions of cou rses couched in terms of their content, such as: " li near algebra.Matrices and linea r transformati ons, d eterminants, complex nu mbers, quadratic forms."Thi s list, w ith its focu s on topi cs, illustrates the power o f our version of Gresham 's law.We can be sure th at there will be definitions, theorems, and p roofs, and al gorithms.Swept under the catalog is concern with the ability to think and to com munic ate.So, without a battl e, in spi te of ou r best intention s, the combination of cu rric ulu m, syllab us, and sche d ule see ms to assu re th e triumph o f Gresha m's pedagogic law.Algorithms, of co urse, are good and must be taugh t.After all, the world would be an u npleasant place if every time we ad d ed two fractions we had to discover the procedure from scratch .