So Sarah is right to break the spell of our amnesia and tell us that curriculum is not something we buy, but something we teach. She brings this up because she knows that we have not only forgotten the meaning of the word, but with it have forgotten the aims of education. She knows that we are tempted to follow closely, even slavishly and with a great deal of anxiety, the specifications of a published resource (our “curriculum”). We cover material, we rush to keep up or catch up, and what is lost in the process is a love of mathematics and our perception of its truth, goodness, and beauty. We
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curriculum is not something we buy, but something we teach. we have not only forgotten the meaning of the word, but with it have forgotten the aims of education. we are tempted to follow closely, even slavishly and with a great deal of anxiety, the specifications of a published resource (our “curriculum”). We cover material, we rush to keep up or catch up, and what is lost in the process is a love of mathematics and our perception of its truth, goodness, and beauty. We instead simply get through the book. Ah, yes, let’s just get through it.
