ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the specific person who was delivering the paper on cognitive studies of algebra problem solving and learning. If one does make the error of focusing on highly artificial word problems, one can compound the error by accepting very short-term strategies for producing what can look like correct student performance. The tradition of educational studies of mathematical behavior has been to ignore human thought processes. The available evidence, of which there is a great deal, indicates that for most students this sort of problem solving, continued day after day after day, will seem unrealistic, foolish, and irrelevant. The theory underlying mathematics courses seems to be: If the students spend enough time practicing dull, meaningless, incomprehensible little rituals, sooner or later something wonderful will happen. Our biggest problem is that the wrong kind of learning experiences are being aggregated into the wrong kind of courses, aimed at producing the wrong kind of mathematical "knowledge."
