What's the name of the essay about how math should be taught in high school?

Question

Does anyone know of an essay about the pedagogy of math teaching?

I read an essay a couple years ago about the way math should be taught. It wasn't very long and was written by a former high school teacher, if I remember correctly. He wrote that the way we teach math these days sucks the life out of it, and students don't like it because of that. Instead, we should approach it like an art, foster creativity and teach them to think of math as puzzles (rather than trivial calculations). At one point he also made fun of how AP calculus I and calculus II sound like sequels to a bad movie.

I can't remember much else about it, or even the title. I want to read it again but googling hasn't really helped. By some miracle, do you know what I'm talking about?

Answer 1

What you are probably looking for is Lockhart's Lament, or using its formal title, "A Mathematician’s Lament".

Answer 2

This sounds like Lockhart's Lament, although that's certainly not the only text of this kind.

---

EDIT: There are certain discrepancies: the Lament is not short, and it does not refer to movie sequels. However, Lockhart was indeed a high school teacher. The article ultimately turned into a book of the same name.

Answer 3

There are probably lots of papers that roughly fit the bill …

Another candidate: What is Mathematics for?, by Underwood Dudley. But he doesn’t mention anything about movie sequels either.